


Home with the Purple Walls

by mozukki



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Klance Week 2016, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-07-29 06:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7674406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mozukki/pseuds/mozukki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance and Keith try to build a home together and it's more than just arguments and cold nights on the couch; there's laughter in-between kisses and 4am bickering. With every passing second, they fall a bit more in love with each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Three Horsemen of Keith Kogane

**Author's Note:**

> something for klance week! honestly didn't think i'd love them so much to want to write fanfics for them until 3am. i went with the idea of lance and keith living together aka mixing blue and red. Together, I think they make the loveliest shade of purple and with that thought, this fanfic happened
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Voltron Legendary Defenders trademarked by Dreamworks. I do not claim any ownership over them and this story is for pure entertainment.

Hunk throws a darted look around the cafeteria, eyes doing a quick scan for his overly-confident best friend. He wasn’t at their usual table nor was he hanging around his last class. If Hunk couldn’t find Lance then he was hoping to find Keith because if Lance wasn’t hanging off of Keith then Lance would be texting Keith.

The problem was that there was no Keith either.

As much as Keith insists, with a raging blush, that he does not spend every waking minute with Lance, Hunk knows from experience that this is far from the truth. Lance is cute, even charming but he could be exhausting to be around. It was like Lance would die without attention, as if two seconds of silence would throw off the balance of the universe– an opinion everyone begs to differ with.

Still, it was endearing for everyone around to witness. They were just so happy that no one would even think to dampen it, not even Pidge who just makes a point to roll their eyes. At least Lance spared his friends from the gross display of affection, though Hunk suspects it was more for his sake than theirs. Keith would be taking none of it and they all know that.

“So,” Hunk says, placing his lunch tray on the table. “Where’s Lance and Keith?”

“They’re both not here, I think you can do the math,” Pidge replies, eyes glued to their laptop. “Sorry, going back to work.”

This image of Pidge screams _“assignment due at the end of the day and I’m barely halfway done. Do not disturb.”_   Though, Pidge had enough time to be sarcastic about it so the assignment can’t be too important. Shiro throws a look of disapproval at Pidge that they obviously don’t catch.

“Keith stayed up all night working on his essay so he skipped his morning classes and Lance is…” Shiro trails off, lost at Lance’s whereabouts.

“That’s all I need to know,” Hunk comments, his focus finally on the food in front of him. It was likely that Lance was bothering Keith’s beauty sleep right now and Hunk would like to feel bad for Keith but his stomach required more attention.

 

***

 

“I can’t believe you forgot to reload your fridge before pulling an all-nighter,” Lance jokes, looking at his watch to check the time. His chicken noodle soup was almost ready.

Lance is no chef but chicken noodle soup was his safest bet. He’s sure that it will taste decent enough to appease his grumpy boyfriend and it was also the fastest thing he can pull out of his arse in the span of half an hour. Before that, a considerable amount of time was spent in the grocery store and waiting in the express checkout so he had no time to waste, not with a grouchy Keith on his case.

“Shut up,” Keith groans, lying on the couch under a blanket. Lance thought something was wrong when he received a call from Keith, sounding like the world was going to end but it turns out the fool was tired and hungry but there was nothing to eat. 

“Hey, I am making you food right now. You should be grateful or else I’m going to send a photo in our group chat to show why I’m missing at the lunch table,” Lance threatens and he sees Keith rolling his eyes, though to be fair, Keith wasn’t even trying to hide it.

“Oh my god,” Keith mutters before turning his back to Lance to curl into a ball. “I feel like shit right now.”

Lance’s expression softens and he takes small steps towards his melodramatic boyfriend. He sits down and touches Keith’s shoulder and feels him relaxing under his touch. Keith shifts further into Lance’s touch and turns to face Lance.

“It’s because you’re dehydrated, tired and hungry,” Lance coos gently and Keith scowls at Lance’s little reprimand.

“The three horsemen of the apocalypse,” Keith murmurs and Lance laughs inappropriately. At least Keith wasn’t so sick that he couldn’t make snarky comments. 

“There’s four of them, idiot,” Lance corrects matter-of-factly. “It’s more like the three horsemen of Keith Kogane.”

“Well, it’s working. I’m dying,” Keith bites back miserably and Lance’s smile wavers with concern. Keith scoots closer to Lance and Lance would be exploding with warmth if not for the fact that Keith was suffering right now.

“Do you want water? The soup’s almost ready.” It should be ready now but Lance didn’t want to leave Keith’s side. It was rare that Keith was so open and whiny– it was cute and Lance wanted to savor the moment for as long as he can, even at the expense of his soup.

“Soup.” Keith says. There was a pause until Lance’s pointed look made sense to Keith and he groaned in frustration. “Please.”

“Good,” Lance teases, ruffling Keith’s shaggy hair while ignoring his glare. “Soup is coming.”

 

***

 

Keith fidgets trying to avoid Lance’s eyes while drinking soup but it was hard when he was blatantly staring.

“Can you...uhh…” Keith trails off. _Stop looking. Go somewhere else._

“Hmm? Do you need something else?”

Keith stares back at Lance, a bit dumbfounded. A part of Keith wanted Lance to do something, _anything_ to divert his attention away from Keith but another part of him, a bigger part, was extremely touched and grateful that Lance did this. He went grocery shopping, made soup–although a bit salty but it was still a very tender action– and settled on spending his lunch break with his sullen and whiny boyfriend. 

“Keith?” Lance asks, a nuance of worry in his tone. “You okay?”

Keith automatically nods. “I’m fine.”

Keith’s eyes wander to the living room behind them and notice that Lance had cleaned up. He picked up the papers Keith had left on the coffee table and organized them into a nice pile. The food wrappers were gone and Keith could swear, Lance had dusted the coffee table.

He didn’t know Lance could be so domestic and dependable. They have been going out for about a year but Keith can’t forget the first time they met: Keith had walked into a party and Lance was in the middle of losing strip beer pong. Keith’s first thought was “how can someone who looks so thin be remotely fit?” Lance wasn’t embarrassed enough to stop so he proceeded to play strip beer pong until he was in his underwear and a sock.

It also didn’t help that Keith was an awkward person so he wasn’t good at expressing himself. It made him uncomfortable and the way people reacted to his rare moments of emotions made him even more uncomfortable.

“Thanks for coming today,” Keith remarks, staring down at his empty bowl. He wanted another serving but he didn’t want to inflate Lance’s big ego. “The soup was good and I feel better.”

Lance beams and his genuine look slowly morphs into an arrogant one. Keith was going to regret this. “You _definitely_ called the right person. Who else would come on such short notice to take care of their disgruntled boyfriend.” Keith stops himself from rolling his eyes so he just stares hard at Lance, daring him to continue.

Lance didn’t catch the hint. “You said you weren’t hungry but guess who had two bowls of soup?” Lance arches a brow at Keith, fishing for more compliments.

Keith struggles between a _‘shut up’_ and _“don’t think too highly of yourself”_ but they both sound scornful and insensitive.

“I’m going to get water, do you want anything to drink?” Keith doesn’t wait for an answer and pushes his chair back, happy to get out of Lance’s glaze.

“Water.” Keith pauses, getting back at Lance for earlier. Thankfully, he catches on this time and sighs loudly. _“Please.”_

A smirk plays on Keith’s lips as he reaches for the mugs in the cupboard. His grin grows when he eyes them. Lance doesn’t live with Keith in his cramped apartment but Lance still made a point of leaving traces of him here and there.

It first started when Keith unknowingly found a blue and red mug sitting in his cupboard a couple of weeks after they got together. He later found out it was Lance who put it there. Keith wasn’t surprised but a little embarrassed because it was their first matching couple item. It was sappy but he liked the idea. Thank goodness Lance had spared Keith from the cheesiness because the mugs had no cutesy heart prints, just a happy starry-eyed cartoon expression on Lance’s blue cup and a grumpy, blushing expression on Keith’s red one.

Lance later started leaving things like small pillows, picture frames, and little ornaments to make his home feel more like a home. Keith doesn’t mind Lance doing that but he probably would mind if their friends found out and started teasing him for it. So Keith made Lance swear to keep it a secret and Lance did so with a confused glance and a shrug.

Keith returns to his seat and slides Lance’s mug over to him.

“Thank you,” Keith blurts out.

Lance looks up from his mug to Keith, confused. “I should be thanking you. Are you still tired?” Lance chuckles and Keith bites back a snarky reply.

“I feel like I should thank you again,” Keith says, avoiding Lance’s eyes. He feels his cheeks heating up which gives him more of a reason to look away. “I’m not the greatest person to be around when I’m tired and–”

“Keith,” Lance interjects but Keith doesn’t look up.

“Keith,” Lance repeats in a gentler tone and this time, Keith slowly lifts his eyes to stare at Lance. Lance has his arm outstretched with his palms face up.

Keith knows this gesture well enough and he reaches over to hold Lance’s hand. Lance’s fingers slowly laces with his and Keith knows his face is red, right up to his ear. Keith notes that Lance’s hand is really warm and blushes harder at the thought.

 

***

 

Lance tries to suppress his goofy grin from showing at Keith’s blossoming scarlet face. His palms were probably sweaty since it really was rare that Keith was so compliant and quiet about this show of affection.

Lance thought Keith looked really endearing as he tries to control the raging blush on his face but he unfortunately has to keep that thought to himself as well.

“I’ve been thinking of something,” Lance starts and waits until the weight of his words fully dawn on Keith. He still refuses to look Lance in the eye but Lance wants him to hear him out.

“Go on…” Keith replies hesitantly.

“You sure?” Lance questions and stares at Keith’s contemplating face. Keith’s hand grows a bit limp but Lance feels him quickly hold his hand again as a sign of encouragement.

A small smile creeps onto Keith’s face and he reverts back to the determined Keith that Lance knew and adored. “Yeah, go on. I’m listening.”

Lance takes a deep breath, to calm his thoughts. Keith starts to grow uneasy at how Lance was acting but this thought has been running through his mind for quite some time now. Lance had to tell Keith eventually but he didn’t think it’d be today. He didn’t think he’d ever receive a call from Keith to ask Lance to come and cook for him– though, Keith didn’t actually ask for that, he just asked for his ‘assistance’ but Lance knew Keith well enough to know what he really meant. Keith was just too embarrassed to outright ask it but Lance enjoyed teasing this side of him often so it was a win-win situation, though it was more of a victory for Lance than Keith.

Lance takes another breath and concentrates on what’s in front of him: Keith with peppered cheeks, struggling to look him in the eyes while simultaneously holding his hand. Lance’s inside melts because Keith really is a keeper.

“How about we live together?”

Lance waits again for Keith’s mind to catch up with what he just said. He feels his face growing hot with embarrassment as well but he doesn’t look away from Keith. Keith’s face is deadpanned and Lance would have laughed if not for the solemn topic.

It was a big step in their relationship. It required much thought and consideration. Lance knew this so he waited for Keith to clumsily wrap his head around the idea then awkwardly tiptoe around it to fully digesting it and finally, fret, overreact and grow frustrated with formulating an answer. It was a process that Lance was prepared for.

Initially, Lance had thought of numerous reasons to convince Keith: cheaper rent, less financial burden. The chores would be split. They would see each other more. Lance dies at the thought of waking up to a disorientated Keith with winsome bed-head in the morning because that would truly be a blessing. Though he decided to scrap those ideas because if Keith wanted to move in together then he wouldn’t need to be persuaded. He wanted this decision to be mutual.

Lance was about to speak again when Keith stops him by tightening their held hands.

“Can I have some time to think about it?” Keith stammers, covering his mouth with his free hand but he maintains the eye-contact between them. If possible, Keith’s face becomes a deeper shade of red.

Lance smiles widely, relieved that Keith didn’t reject the idea. So he’s done tiptoeing and digesting, now all Lance has to do is overcome the overthinking part.

“Why are you happy with that answer?” Keith looks puzzled. Lance gives their intertwined hands a squeeze and Keith shoots him an embarrassed glare to _stop._

“Because you didn’t say no.”

“That’s…” Keith trails away, looking more and more baffled. Lance laughs as Keith struggles to find the right word to insult him. “Lance. You’re so–”

“Wonderful? Understanding?” Lance teases, offering a few suggestions but it doesn’t deter away Keith’s confusion.

 _“Dumb,”_ he mutters under his breath then breaks into a soft laugh. Then Keith looks pensive and continues speaking, “There’s a lot to consider and I want to think things through thoroughly.”

“I’m not rushing you so there’s no pressure. Give it some thought and let me know, okay?”

“Thank you,” Keith says again but this time more thoughtfully.

“Stop thanking me,” Lance reprimands and mindlessly reaches out to grab his drink. He stops midway when Keith holds his hand tighter and Lance looks up to see Keith looking away shyly for the innumerable time. Keith didn’t say yes but Lance wasn’t disappointed because if Keith had wanted to say no then he would have shot down the idea instantly.

Keith just like to overcomplicate things so Lance just had to make sure he was there to reassure Keith that everything will be okay, that they will definitely be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n: to explain further about the four horsemen of the apocalypse**, it’s a passage in the bible. the interpretation that i align with these four horsemen represent aspects or is the cause of a tribulation (in this case, it’s the apocalypse). so the horsemen would cause suffering. so in the fanfic, it’s like the aspects/causes of keith’s suffering which is dehydration, fatigue and starvation LOL. the idea actually came from my prof who said that some proteins are tumor-inducing agents (aka they’re very dangerous to us) and called them the four horsemen of biology. i'm not religious so this was the interpretation i came up with after trying to understand my prof's joke. do correct me if im wrong.


	2. Softening the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance have a conversation at 4am and Keith feels the world's sharp edges become dull by Lance's charm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2/7 of klance prompt (love/hate). I wrote this chapter surrounding the idea that love and hate is separated by a thin line. Something that someone found endearing could become irritable in a blink of an eye and the very idea scares Keith a lot. This chapter continues off from the first chapter. Enjoy!

 

A week passed after Lance’s proposal and Keith had spent a considerable amount of time pondering the prospects. He didn’t know what was stopping him from giving Lance an answer. He actually _liked_ the idea of living with Lance but of course, he would never admit this at gunpoint.

Coming home and having someone to talk to, someone to look forward to – the very idea of this warms Keith’s heart. Knowing that that person was Lance makes Keith even more excited. Them being domestic, having home-cooked meals, arguing about mundane things like the color of their curtains made him genuinely smile.

Lance doesn’t give himself enough credit but he really is a good guy or else, Keith wouldn’t initially have been friends with him. People always assume that Lance is lucky to have Keith but he believes it’s the other way around.

Lance is always jolly, even when he doesn’t want to be. He had a bag full of lame jokes and is thick-skinned _enough_ to use them. His happiness is contagious and Keith finds himself laughing a lot more after knowing him, though he’s mainly laughing at Lance rather than with him. Lance also has a serious, intelligent side. Sometimes, Keith finds himself up at 3am talking to Lance about the dirty world of politics, the pharmaceutical companies, tax dodging. These talks lasted until either one of them fell asleep but Keith always wakes up the following morning, charmed by Lance.  

Keith realized that he’s learning a lot more from Lance than he would ever imagined.

Yet, Keith was still hesitant in telling Lance ‘yes.’

He’s heard this a million times and it’s right but Keith is awkward, incredibly awkward. If someone told Keith to sit down and study the bible in preparation for a pop quiz the following day then he could accomplish that. He wouldn’t like it but it was doable despite not being religious in the slightest. But if someone told Keith to console a crying friend, say Hunk, then Keith would freeze up and take the smallest, most chary steps towards said friend. Then he would awkwardly pat them on the back, too scared to say anything because he wasn’t sure if they could reply coherently through their sobs. Then he would worry that he’s patting them for too long and get frustrated over what to do next.

Therefore, Keith would gladly study for a bible pop quiz over comforting a crying friend.

Truthfully, he didn’t want to mess this up with Lance. Despite Lance assuring him that things will be okay, that Lance knew what he was getting himself into, that Keith _should_ be worried about what he would be getting himself into, but Keith was doubtful. Did Lance really know? Is Lance _really_ able to fully comprehend the clumsiness that makes up Keith?

 

***

 

Thankfully Lance gives Keith space about the topic and hasn’t brought it up since. So life continues on as normal which means Keith is suffering from assignments and awful back cramps from sitting up so much while trying to juggle his part-time job and a questionable social life.

“Hey, I have to run to this tutorial and then I have work after,” Lance announces in the study room, breaking the peace and quiet. Pidge gives him a nod of acknowledgement, a small wave and a ‘Don’t kill yourself.’ Hunk stares at his watch and gives him a cheery ‘Have fun.’

Keith puts his book down and looks at Lance to give him a ‘Take it easy.’ Lance hauls his knapsack over his back and says with a cocky grin, “Don’t miss me too much.” He gives Keith a lingering pat on the shoulder—which doesn’t go unnoticed by the other two—and dashes out of the room.

Before Keith could pick up his book again, Pidge goes in for the kill. “So what happened between you and Lance?”

Keith wasn’t surprised that they caught on but he wanted to know what gave it _away_. So he stays quiet, knowing that they’ll understand what his silence means.

“C’mon Keith, you really expect us to not clue into this?” Pidge says in ridicule. “Lance has been giving you these gross tender looks and you always stiffen up when he’s within a 30 centimeter radius of you. It’s obviously not a fight and you’re being weird.”

 _You’re being weird._ That was a nice way to put it.

Keith’s brows are knitted in deep thought as he ponders if it’s okay to tell them. Lance didn’t make him swear secrecy but this felt _too_ personal to be sharing with their friends. Though Keith wasn’t going to talk about it with Lance any time soon because he’d just feel guilty so he confides in them, much to their delight.

“Lance wants to move in together and I’m…” Keith hesitates, unsure of what to say. He stares at them for assistance but he’s met with blank stares.

“Do you want to live together?” Hunk inquires, getting straight to the point. “That’s the important question.”

“I don’t know about that,” Keith answers truthfully and truthfully meant sounding mystified. “I mean, I like the idea but it’s not just gathering our stuff together and living under one roof. There’s a lot of emotional stuff to factor in and I don’t want us to feel overwhelm and get weird. I don’t want him to regret it.”

“If Lance suggested it then he probably thought things through, Keith,” Hunk reminds Keith, easing his anxiety. “I mean, even though Lance doesn’t look like it but he overthinks as much as you do when it comes to your relationship— _don’t tell him I said that_.”

“Actually, Lance did ask for our opinion,” Pidge reveals and Hunk jabs Pidge with his elbow. “ _Ow_ Hunk. It’s fine to tell Keith!”

“Lance didn’t say it was okay to tell Keith that. He just said to talk to Keith if he looks frustrated,” Hunk retorts and the two engage in an argument, forgetting that Keith was sitting right there.

Keith watches the two bicker some more as his mind processes what he just heard. So Lance’s proposal wasn’t a spontaneous act, despite Lance acting all suave and confident about it—though his sweaty palm should have been a giveaway. Keith wonders how long Lance has been mulling over this idea and how he had managed to miss it. He also wonders what sparked this desire to live together? Keith was already comfortable in their relationship and didn’t plan on changing it but what brought on Lance’s desire for intimacy?

For Lance to ask them to talk to Keith if he looked tormented meant that Lance did put _some_ thought into it or it could mean that Lance just knew Keith _that well._

“ _Anyways_ Keith,” Pidge raises their voice over Hunk’s while shooting a glare at them. “I’m not persuading you to live with Lance, again this is something that Lance stressed—” another jab from Hunk—“but if you’re feeling anxious then know that he’s just as anxious because well, he _is_ the other half of the relationship.”

“Lance is just better at hiding it, you know how he is. Masks his doubt with a sparkly grin, waves off his insecurity with a bad joke,” Hunk says. “What matters is if you _want_ to move in and if you do then you two will work it out. There will be arguments but arguments literally made up your friendship when you first met.” Hunk sounds nostalgic towards the end and Pidge rolls their eyes at him.  

Hunk was right, he’s always right. If they made the mistake of questioning it ever, Hunk won’t let them hear the end of it. Yet, Keith still wasn’t quite convinced. Keith would like to come home to Lance, to spend dreadful mornings with Lance and talk intellect during dinner, share some kisses, more intimate moments.

“Are you serious about Lance?” Hunk inquires. His protective best friend facade shows and Keith is glad that Lance has Hunk for a best friend but didn’t want to be on the interrogative end of his frontage.

“Of course!” Keith exclaims, flabbergast that Hunk could even question it—wasn’t being in a relationship enough to speak volume? It may not look like much to others but to Keith, just entering one was a huge step. Because Keith was serious about their relationship, about Lance, it’s why he’s in this dilemma in the first place.

Keith didn’t want Lance to regret moving in with him. He didn’t want Lance to suddenly feel that all of his habits were now nuisances. He didn’t want Lance to find his habits intolerable. If things boiled down to that then Keith wouldn’t know how to cope.  

“Then we’re not too worried.” Pidge smirks and Keith felt like he’s just been played.

“I don’t get what’s happening,” Keith stammers, narrowing his eyes as Hunk and Pidge high-five each other.

“Well, if you’re serious about Lance then regardless of your answer, you two will work out,” Pidge clarifies. Keith’s still sporting the perplexed look so Pidge has to explain further. “If you’re worried that Lance will regret it then remember this: if you’re serious about Lance then he’s also serious about you—geez Keith, why else would he want to live with you?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about Lance regretting it. I swear on the pies from the bakery near the station that whatever’s stopping you from saying yes, Lance would dismiss them all,” Hunk assures Keith and he nods in response.

Keith wanted so badly to ask them if he should live with Lance because if they said yes then he would be more confident about his decision but Keith knows that it’s just a feeble excuse for him to say yes. It’s not the answer that Lance wanted. Lance didn’t want Hunk and Pidge’s answer, he wanted Keith’s answer, his truthful answer.  

And the truth was that Keith _did_ want to live with Lance. He was just scared.

 

***

 

Keith lies in bed, knowing that he _should_ sleep but his mind doesn’t want sleep. If anything, he wants to talk to Lance. To settle these thoughts so he _can_ sleep. So Keith reaches for his phone but after hearing the dial tone for so long, he considers hanging up. It _is_ 4am and Lance’s shift did end at 2am so he’s probably—his

 _“Keith,”_ Lance speaks groggily and Keith hears shuffling from his end.

“Lance,” Keith replies, sitting up to stare into the blackness of his room. “Sorry for waking you up.” After a while of darkness, Keith decides to go to the kitchen to grab some water. He unconsciously reaches for the red mug and dismisses the smile on his face. _He is not supposed to be happy about a sappy couple mug._  

 _“It doesn’t matter, I’m up now.”_ Lance yawns. _“So what’s wrong?”_

“Nothing.” Keith grows nervous and takes a big gulp of water. “I couldn’t sleep and wanted to talk.”

 _“Okay, hold on. I’m going to the balcony. I need to be awake for this_.” Keith swears he can hear Lance grinning through the phone. Then there’s static on the line and Lance returns. _“I’m back. So talk.”_

Keith pauses, not sure what to say. “How was work?”

 _“Work?”_  The tone in Lance’s voice sounded ridiculous, as if he was asking _‘do you really want me to talk about work at 4am?’_

Keith gets defensive when he hears Lance laughing. “Stop laughing, I’m trying to talk to you!”

 _“I’m the one that’s going to be doing the most talking anyway but alright. There’s nothing interesting about making drinks though.”_  Despite Lance thinking that his job was nothing more than being a boring bartender, Keith furtively admired that job because it required him to be sociable, so likable in order to get a hefty tip. Plus Keith thinks that Lance looks handsome in his uniform.   

“Okay, what do you want to talk to about?”

Lance is uncharacteristically quiet and Keith immediately knows what he’s thinking about. The line continues to stay quiet and if not for Lance’s breathing, Keith would have thought he had fallen asleep.

“Lance?”

_“Keith.”_

“I know what you want to say so say it.”

 _“I said I wouldn’t pressure you though,”_ Lance admits, defeated. _“I’m trying to keep my word here.”_

“Then stop giving me _‘gross tender looks’_ when I’m not looking,” Keith teases and he hears Lance choking on the other end. Keith didn’t know when Lance got the chance to get something to drink but he’s laughing too hard to care.

 _“Who told you that?!”_ Lance yells after his coughing fit and Keith laughs harder.

“Pidge.”

 _“Dammit Pidge.”_  Lance clears his throat. _“Okay, this is bending my promise a bit but what would you imagine your dream house to look like?”_

Keith muses for a bit and surprisingly realizes that he didn’t have a dream house. He didn’t think that far into the future yet. As long as he has a roof over his head and food in the fridge then it’s home.

_Keith?”_

“Sorry, the thought never crossed my mind. What’s your dream house like?”

 _“I don’t know what the house looks like but I know what I want in it_ ,” Lance declares proudly and Keith smiles, wanting to know more.

“You probably want to hang a poster of some Playboy model on your wall.”

 _“Keith! You know I would not do that,”_ Lance snaps, his tone threatening him to _stop being a jerk. “Anyways, as I was saying. Do you remember those hugging salt and peppers shakers?”_

Flashbacks to when they went to the night market this year runs through his mind. He remembers being surprised that the two figures hugging each other were actually shakers and was even more surprised to find that people actually bought them. They were cute but very impractical.

“Don’t tell me you want those things in your house.” Keith says this more as a statement than a question.

 _“You have to admit they’re cute.”_ Lance chuckles, ignoring Keith’s judgemental attitude

 “You don’t need five dollar shakers, they’re like a dollar at the dollar store,” Keith reprimands and he hears Lance take an exaggerated sigh.

_“This is why people call you dark and miserable.”_

Keith’s mouth moves faster than his mind and he replies, “Yeah but you’re still here.” He tenses up afterwards, finally understanding what he just said. He mentally slaps himself for sounding so gross and sentimental.  Keith was not gross and sentimental, that was Lance.

Lance is quiet then finally breathes a low, _“I know.”_

There is more silence but this time, it’s a comfortable and pensive silence. They were both thinking about something and Keith had a hunch that they were thinking about each other. Keith drinks some more water to keep him awake. He didn’t want to sleep and he _should_ be feeling like crap because it was a long day but he didn’t. Talking made Keith feel better, as if a heavy burden was lifted off his chest and he could breathe again.

“You know, I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about that,” Keith confesses. “I was scared.” Honesty takes a big toll on Keith’s mentality and he has to muster up all of his willpower to not hang up. He exhales a big breath and Lance takes the cue to start talking.

 _“Were you scared of me?”_ Lance questions, sounding a little hurt yet he was still brave enough to ask.

Keith’s face wrinkles at this question. Why did everyone question his feelings for Lance; even Lance was uncertain of it himself and they’ve been dating for almost a year.

Keith quickly clarifies, “What? No! I was just scared of…”

He closes his eyes, _honesty, give Lance honesty._ “I was scared that you might regret it, you know, moving in with me. Then you’d regret the relationship.”

_“You said the same thing before we started going out.”_

Keith remembers and smiles at the memory. “I did…”

 _“Well, I’m going to tell you the same thing again, so get ready,”_ Lance jokes. _“It’s almost been a year since we’ve been going out, Keith. I’d have you know that I’m well aware that you’re really intelligent but you’re also incredibly street dumb. I also know that you’re a clumsy person who doesn’t handle emotions very well. You use anger to hide your embarrassment and I have bruises to show it—”_

“You did not say that back then,” Keith accuses and Lance laughs. There was _some_ truth to what Lance was saying and Keith is amazed that Lance even remembered.

_“I’m adding more because I have another year of experience. So Keith, what else is there for me to regret?”_

“What if those things start annoying you? You speak of them fondly now but I’m not sure that you’ll feel the same later down the road.”

_“I’m going to punch you.”_

“I wouldn’t stop you.”

 _“Keith, no. You’re supposed to stop me. What am I going to do with you?”_ Lance exaggerates and Keith knows Lance is shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Keith presses the phone closer to his ear, wanting to hear Lance better. He can’t stop smiling now and he feels light, airy even. It was as if this whole week didn’t happen. As if the usual stress from school, work and now, Lance, didn’t come tumbling down at once.

It was like Keith went for a jog, worked up a sweat, and came back feeling invincible. And he knows a part of that invincibility is due to Lance.  

Thinking back to their conversation last week when Keith was dying from the three horsemen, he’s sure that Lance was wrong. There _is_ a fourth horsemen of Keith Kogane because Keith is sure that the fourth horseman is Lance McClain.

“When do you want to go get those damn hugging shakers?”

There is another wave of heavy silence from Lance’s end but at least Keith was expecting it. He just wasn’t sure if the silence was due to astonishment, elation or if he fainted.

“Lance?”

 _“Keith, a-are you serious?”_ Lance stumbles on his words gawkily, giving Keith a chance to deny it. This was considerate Lance talking. 

“Yeah, I’m serious.” _About us, about you._

 _“Really?”_ Lance’s voice is an octave higher.

 _“Lance_. _”_  Keith’s voice is chiding but this doesn’t stop Lance from rejoicing with a loud _“YES!”_ Keith rolls his eyes, giving Lance more time to celebrate by himself but truthfully, Keith’s also grinning himself. Lance was so happy and this in turn, made Keith happy. His reaction is enough for Keith to know that he didn’t make the wrong choice because how could a wrong choice make two people so happy?  

He hears static and knows Lance is picking up his phone. _“Okay, I can go tomorrow. I don’t have work or classes in the morning and you don’t either,”_ Lance beams. _“Sounds good?”_

“I can’t believe I’m waking up in a few hours to get those shakers,” Keith complains but there’s a hint of amusement in his voice that betrays him.

_“Shut up, you’re going to love them.”_

“Yeah, I guess,” Keith says, giving in to Lance. They both start laughing because it’s 4am and they’re both drunk with glee. They’re moving in together. They’re going to come home to each other and be the first thing they see each morning and the last thing every night.  

Keith’s glaze falls and he smiles affectionately at his dumb red couple mug, fingers tracing the cold porcelain handle. Although Keith couldn’t see much in the dark, he felt a strange tranquility wash over him as he listens to Lance ramble animatedly about what he wants in their new house. It was as if the world’s sharp edges were dulled by Lance’s charm. Keith smiles at the thought. If Lance’s allure didn’t affect the world then it had impacted Keith’s world.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im such a sucker for bartender lance. he can finally start using his pick-up lines and hopefully get loads of tips for it - ofc this is all before he becomes a thing with keith.
> 
> those [ shakers ](https://www.google.ca/search?q=shake+an+dpepper+shaker&rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA705CA705&espv=2&biw=1440&bih=859&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiAmpmMl8LOAhVDVh4KHT-qBb8Q_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=hugging+salt+and+pepper+shaker) actually exist! my mom came home with it one day and my reaction was like keith's because people actually buy this? I don't think people actually use them as shakers though LOL.


	3. House Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After moving in with Lance, Keith finds it easier to throw pillows at Lance than to tell him to shut up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3/7 of klance week. prompt: heaven/hell. things got out of hand and this prompt ended up being incredibly long. i’m two days left but my exam is in 6 days :((

 

“I can’t believe we managed to find blue and red hugging shakers.” Keith stares at the box in the bag that Lance is happily flinging around. Keith was amazed that Lance can actually haggle prices down to his satisfaction. He truly is full of surprises.

“Hard work pays off.” Lance whistles happily. “Can you believe that it’s not even 10am yet?” Keith groans, regretting the 8am wake-up call from Lance. Keith doesn’t know how Lance is functioning on a mere 4 hours of sleep, especially since they were talking so late into the night.

“I can’t believe we didn’t find curtains.”

Keith was abundant about buying new curtain, especially since his were old and dusty and Lance’s curtains didn’t serve their purpose of blocking the light—he actually suspects that they’re shower curtains which wouldn’t surprise Keith too much.

Secretly, Keith saw curtains as something special because they were one of the first things he saw in the morning when he opens them up to let light into his room. It was something he touched every day so he wanted nice curtains to start his day off well.

“We can keep searching for another hour then head to school for lunch. We can always come back, there’s a lot of time to go looking for nice curtains,” Lance suggests, throwing at arm around Keith’s shoulder. He’s been beaming ever since they met up and because of it, Keith hasn’t been able to make snarky remarks.

“Deal. You’re buying me lunch today.”

“I can’t say I’m too surprised.” Lance’s eyes are laughing now and Keith wants him to stop doing that.

 

***

 

Keith didn’t know that moving in together meant moving into a new flat. He had thought that Lance meant one of them would move into the other’s apartment because they were university students after all but nope. Mr. Extravaganza wanted to start this new stage of their relationship with a boom.

“What’s wrong with my flat?” Keith asks, defensively. It was pretty small and rather empty but with a bit of decorating and re-designing then it would be comfortable enough for Lance to live in.

“Nothing, I just wanted both of us to have a fresh start,” Lance answers, looking through his phone to check on his emails. “I have a friend who’s a real estate agent and he can help us.”

“I’m not worried about that. It feels…” Keith trails off, defeated. It felt like a very adult-like thing to do. Looking for houses, splitting the bills, grocery shopping for the both of them. It really did feel like a new personal start with Lance.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be okay,” Lance assures Keith confidently. Keith doesn’t know how or where Lance draw his confidence from but Keith agrees with him.

So in the middle of the school year, between working and bustling assessments, Keith and Lance goes around with their real estate agent to find a suitable home. Again, Keith is in awed at how reliable Lance is. Because of his bar-tending job, Lance’s connections stretch miles so Keith wasn’t too surprised that Lance knew a real estate agent but the way Lance was chatting it up with them, asking about how his vacation went and their new project at work, it felt like Keith was third-wheeling them.

After a week, Keith was ready to give up on the search and just drag a suitcase to Lance’s apartment and call it home but Lance was persistent, insisting that _Jackson would never let me down._ His faith was in good hands because another week later, they finally found an apartment.

Keith walks around the apartment, inspecting every inch of it. It wasn’t much bigger than Keith’s current one but it was cozy enough for two people. It was hidden in one of the smaller streets but connected to two of the major ones on either ends and Keith liked its duality. Keith can see that Lance was in love with its location: it was a twenty minute walk from campus which wasn’t a problem for both of them but what was charming were the little cafes, restaurants and cinema downstairs. They were far away enough from school to get a breather and they were within walking ranges of cute crepe dates if they were too lazy to cook.

The rent increase shouldn’t have been too surprising to Keith but he can’t stop his jaws from dropping. It's perfectly reasonable because of the amenities but then he remembers that rent was split in two which actually makes it cheaper than his current apartment. So Keith breathes again.

“Do you like it?” Lance asks, coming up from behind Keith. Keith nods. He wasn’t too picky about these things. If there was a roof and a fridge then Keith can live anywhere—it's Lance that was picky but he wants things to start off well so Keith doesn’t want to burst his bubble.

“Yeah,” Keith replies. His hand slowly find its way to Lance and they’re holding hands while looking at the view from their balcony. Keith can see pubs getting ready to open up and people taking their dogs for a walk. He didn’t grow up in a neighbourhood that felt so alive so this change was startling. Keith stares at Lance who's starry-eyed with excitement for this new experience. He can’t wait to explore the new area and Keith smiled, catching a bit of his enthusiasm.

 

***

 

Finding a place was hard but planning the move-in was worse. They suddenly had doubles of everything. Two beds, two couches, two utensil sets. They had to throw out one of each and this brought on a lot of discourse. So the settled with a coin to settle their dispute.

“Do we really need a tv? I mean, we both have laptops,” Keith questions, eyeing the ancient tv that Lance was so stubborn on keeping. “Does it even have color?”

“Keith, you are going too far. Stop insulting my gem or I’m bringing my curtains here,” Lance threatens. “I play video games so I need this tv.” Lance is staring at Keith as if he had three heads and was speaking alien so Keith drops the topic.

“Fine, we have room anyway.”

 

***

 

Lance likes to take his sweet time in the morning. It wasn’t a secret amongst their friends, especially Hunk but for some reason, Keith was overreacting and acting like the world was about to end.

There’s banging on the door and Lance sighs in the midst of rinsing off his face wash. “Lance, I swear to—”

“Keith, chill!” Lance cuts him off. He hisses when a bit of the wash gets in his eyes but he can’t glare because his eyes are stinging. With the new house, Lance isn’t used to where things are so he’s fiddling with closed eyes while trying to find the sink lever. His patience is tested when there’s another bang on the door. He grits his teeth, remembering that it’s Keith on the other end. 

“I’m going to be late for class, you’ve been in there for half an hour already,” Keith yells and he’s kicking the door now.

“I have work today so I won’t have time to do this afterwards,” Lance whines. He hurriedly washes his face and when he steps out of the washroom, the apartment was empty.

 

***

 

Lance returns to the apartment 15 hours later, exhausted and hungry from work but opts to sleep off his hunger. Within five minutes of walking in the dark, Lance trips over the legs of the chair and curses loudly. He groans, still not used to the orientation of the furniture. After a while of fiddling and tiptoeing around, he found the knob to their bedroom door. 

He takes five steps into the room to be smacked hard in the face. The pillow falls to the floor and Lance glares into the general direction that Keith was in. His mind is too worn out to try to pick out Keith’s figure in the dark.

 _“What the fuck?”_ Lance mutters under his breath.

“Go sleep outside.” Keith is irritated and doesn’t even try to hide the venom in his voice. Lance sighs loud enough for him to hear. He really was too tired to deal with Keith’s bad attitude now—it is midnight after all and he suffered through a seven hour shift.  

“Keith, I don’t have the energy—”

“Go sleep outside.” Keith repeats, sounding possibly more irritated.

Lance’s anger is bubbling inside and threatening to overflow and he almost barks back but he exhales another breath. _It’s midnight, they’re both in a bad mood._ It definitely wasn’t the time to be picking fights, even if Keith was being the jackarse right now. So Lance picks up the pillow and stalks back into their living room.

 

***

 

The table shakes when someone comes stomping in, furiously, with their books. Pidge steals a glance from her notes to the said angry person and quickly looks back down. _So today is hell._ They lift her gaze just enough to see the others’ worried look. She extends her leg to kick Hunk under the table. Hunk glares back and Pidge shrugs.

Relationship problems are out of Pidge’s league of knowledge so she lets Hunk, Shiro and Allura handle the prodding. Though, Hunk is better at prodding than Shiro who plays relationship consultant and Allura is more in awed at their fighting than she is at actually helping.

“So what happened?” _this time._ Hunk was too nice to add that last bit but his tone wanted to say that.

“My back aches,” Lance answers bitterly and scowls, a hand going to rub his lower back.

“Lance, that’s gross. _Too much information._ ” Hunk’s face twists in disgust and Shiro is choking loudly on water. Allura is narrowing her eyes at Lance’s supposed innuendo. Lance rolls his eyes, too annoyed to make dumb jokes.

“I wish that was the reason.” Lance grumbles and violently whips his book open and flips to a random page. “Keith got mad at me for coming home late. So I ended up sleeping on the couch. _Again._ We should have kept my couch instead.”

Since Keith let him keep the tv, Lance had to give up his couch. It was a fair trade, Lance had thought but when they started arguing more and more and Lance basically spent most of his nights on the couch, he started having second thoughts. Maybe he can still find it the dumpster.

“Your late nights can’t be helped though, it’s part of your job,” Allura reasons and Lance wishes Keith understood that logic.

“Have you tried talking to him about it?” Shiro asked out of concern. Shiro’s life is harder because he has to listen to Keith’s end of the rant as well. Everyone at the table knows this but no one asks Shiro about how Keith’s doing because if it was Shiro then they wouldn’t have to worry. Plus, Shiro wouldn’t tell them anyway. Keith didn’t like too many people knowing about his problems.

“No, he threw the pillow at me when I walked into the room. Then when I woke up, he already left.” Sadly, this isn’t the first time it’s happened. Lance can woo his customers into dropping hefty tips but Keith wasn’t someone that would take his smooth talking. Lance can’t charm his way out of the situation. 

“Lance knows better than to talk to Keith when he’s boiling with anger,” Pidge comments and a look of recognition flashes in everyone’s eyes.

No one wonders why Lance never kicks Keith out of the bedroom. They don’t want to even think of the wrath they’ll face the following day, let alone the wrath Lance’ll face for causing it. It was indeed a scary thought and Pidge thinks it does pay off to be angry half the time.

“I see him less now,” Lance rants, still trying to finish on his readings. Pidge is tempted to tell Lance to stop reading because he isn’t going to absorb anything but that is probably the least of everyone’s concern. They were busy counseling Lance. “He avoids me like I’m the plague and studies in the library until it closes. Then he locks himself in our bedroom “studying” when he gets home.” Lance makes air quotes around studying and his scowl grows deeper.

“Ouch,” Hunk says, patting his best friend on the back to soothe him. “I don’t know how to help you, man.” Hunk spoke for all of them when he said that so they just offer Lance sympathetic looks.

Lance closes his eyes and leans into Hunk, pouting. 

“Hunk, life is so hard.”

 

***

 

Keith saunters on way home slowly and runs through the last few days in his mind. They had a lot more petty arguments than usual, some escalating to heated fights and a cold spot beside him on the bed. He doesn’t know how to deal with oppositions without getting angry. Talking it out in a civil manner is a challenge for him. Thankfully, Lance and their friends knows. Shiro is good at detangling his messy rants and giving him advice. He's gentle and doesn't scold him like he deserved to be.

Today they weren’t on bad terms but Keith was still moping. He was distracted at work and thankfully, his job requires him to do simple data entry so he could half-arse his way through the hours. Still, Keith was sulking while entering the data so his co-workers gave him some slack; if his co-workers noticed something was up then Keith really was making it obvious.

One of Keith’s fears was manifesting again. First, they would have disagreements which then turns into disputes. Second, the silence would linger and they would stop talking. Third, they break up because the connection, the spark isn’t there anymore; the spark has gone out because of the prolonged silence.

They pass the first stage and are currently moving into the haunting silence portion of the second stage. Keith didn’t want to go further and enter the third stage. Remembering Shiro’s advice, he decides that he has to be more soft, more forgiving and less irate towards Lance, especially if he wants their relationship to last. Like Pidge mention, this relationship involves him and Lance so they both have to be committed to power through the struggles together. After they’ve settled their differences and come up with compromises then he believes that this phase will pass, just like when they initially started dating. Keith remembers all the quarrelling in the beginning and wonders how they survived those.

Keith looks around the neighbourhood, realizing that he never managed to take a stroll with Lance yet—something they promised to do. He looks at all the café and makes a note to visit them with Lance. Keith sighs, _realizing that all they’ve done since moving in is argue._

Keith turns the doorknob to their apartment and finds Lance in the kitchen, preparing dinner.

“Hey, you’re back,” Lance greets, with an apron around him. “We’re having fish today.”

“Sounds good.” Keith drops off his bag and coat in the bedroom and hurries back to the kitchen. He hears Lance humming a tune and Keith smiles at this image of Lance that only he knew. It's a nice change from all the arguing. Keith missed it when they weren’t quarreling, he missed their dumb giggles and just missed having Lance around.

Keith walks until he’s within arm’s reach of Lance to presses his forehead against Lance’s back and have his arms snuggle around Lance’s beanpole of a body. He feels Lance tense up and a small grin spreads on Keith’s face. This was his way of apologizing for the hellhole of a week and for thanking him. 

“K-Keith?” Lance stutters and Keith’s grin grows.

“I want to stay like this,” he says, words muffled by Lance’s shirt.

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” Lance chuckles but puts a hand on top of Keith’s. “Did something happen?”

Keith turns to press his cheek on his Lance’s back instead. “It’s been a rough week for us.” _I miss you._

“It’ll get better though I do appreciate the clinginess.” There’s still the singsong tone to Lance’s voice and Keith knows that he’ll probably regret it sometime in the future but there was no regret right now.

 

***

 

“So are both of them coming to dinner today?” Allura asks and they all look around the table for an answer.

Shiro nods, smiling knowingly. “Yeah, they’re on good terms.”

_So today is heaven._

“I don’t know if I should even worry for them anymore.” Allura laughs. It’s been two weeks since they’ve moved in together and they’ve had five arguments, two of which started and ended on the same day. It was hard for them to see their friends fighting and not know what to do. It wasn’t like they could take sides so they helplessly watched as their friends go through the cold war.

“I stay out of it entirely.” Pidge pushes up her glasses and resumes playing on her phone. Hunk scrunches his eyes at Pidge, clearly disagreeing with her. “They’re going to make up anyway.”

“That’s true but we can’t just leave them like that,” Hunk retorts.

“It’s hard being stuck in the middle.”

Allura and Shiro exchange amused glances and decides to let them squabble, laughing together. Keith and Lance’s relationship is an eye-opener for Allura. The sappy trope of opposites attract is overused on tv and she didn’t believe it for a second. Opposites do attract but staying together requires a lot more than just attraction. It's a choice that required time and effort. She thinks Keith and Lance are still struggling because they need more time to better understand each other.

It reminds her of when they first started going out because all they did was fight and it was mainly about the smallest things. Lance was late, Keith was insensitive, Lance didn’t want to watch that movie, Keith was upset at how Lance is overly friendly to everyone. They were on edge and one small disagreement would lead to Lance storming off and Keith in a sour mood for the whole day.

Allura can't see herself being that committed to someone so she applauded them for working through it together.

They all hear Lance before they actually see his goofy face. He’s laughing idiotically loud and Allura knows that today is, indeed, heaven.

 

***

 

“Buddy, where do you think you’re going?” Lance stops Keith in his track and Keith looks at him, dumbfounded. Keith’s old apartment was a five minute walk from campus so he can afford to be last-minute in the morning and still make it to class on time. Now that they were a twenty minute walk away, Keith had to be more mindful of time. 

It was hard to be mindful when Lance had his elaborate morning routine and his late-night shifts disrupting Keith’s slumber.

“What is this time?”

Lance puts his hand on Keith’s shoulder to spin him around. Keith was staring at their bedroom and was more confused than ever.

_“Lance.”_

“You forgot to make the bed after waking up,” Lance tells him. Keith’s eyes grows large in utter astonishment. He can’t believe Lance was stopping him for this stupid reason.

“Is it really necessary? We’re going to be sleeping in it anyways,” Keith retorts. It felt like Lance was _purposely_ picking a fight with him.

_“Keith.”_

_“What.”_

“Making the bed declutters the mess in the bedroom. This lowers stress which is something you need to do,” Lance urges, pushing Keith towards the bedroom. “It’s also a stepping stone for positive habits.”

“Then why didn’t you make the bed?”

“Because someone insisted on _five more minutes._ ” Lance arches a brow at Keith and he rolls his eyes again. Lance can be so high maintenance. “Come on, I’ll help you.”

Lance drags a reluctant Keith back to the bedroom who managed to add in another eye-roll. Lance swears that Keith’s eyes are going to fall out of its socket if he keeps rolling them but he knows not to irritate Keith so early in the morning. Keith follows Lance’s instruction to take one end of the sheet and together they smooth out the covers and fluff up their pillows.

“Maybe this should be something we do together,” Keith suggests, seeing Lance struggle to keep the smile off his face.

“If you insist—” Lance’s few words are muffled by a pillow thrown to his face.

 

***

 

Shiro doesn’t know how Keith is handling his academics with him having a new thing to complain about Lance every day. He wasn’t the type to mute his emotions so if Keith was upset, he was upset while studying, while working, while eating. So with all the arguing then Shiro wonders if it was stopping Keith from focusing in his classes.

“Shiro?”

“Yes?”

“How did you do this question?” Keith’s pencil circles a problem and Shiro is surprised that he’s gotten so far with their homework. So Shiro didn’t have to worry much about Keith academically. Sometimes he wonders if encouraging Keith to befriend Lance was the right choice because they were always up in each other’s faces, arguing about anything and everything they can think of. It was amazing at how much their opinions differed. Allura had asked the same thing and it got Shiro contemplating his decisions back then.

He still questions his choice but at least, they were happy and not squabbling, for now anyways.

“Do you want to look at my answer to see how it’s done or an explanation?”

“Let me see your answer, I’ll see if I can figure it out,” Keith replies, concentration knitted onto his face. It wasn’t right for Shiro to ask this, especially when Keith was so focused but it was also when Keith put his guard down so he was vulnerable to honesty.

“So…” Shiro starts and he sees Keith’s pencil slowing down, “how are you and Lance doing?” Keith stares up at Shiro with the face he makes before he rolls his eyes.

Shiro shrugs, “I’m just looking out for you. It’s not good to be fighting so much.”

“I know,” Keith says with a defeated sigh. He drops his pencil and Shiro knows he has his attention. “We’re still arguing but we’re making up a lot faster. It’s a new experience though I wish Lance didn’t put up a show every morning by opening up the curtains and going _‘And God said let there be light.’_ ” Keith’s face is deadpanned and his voice is clearly unamused but Shiro sees the small grin on his face. He knows that Keith does find it somewhat entertaining.

“You’ll get used to it, Keith.” Shiro chuckles and Keith shrugs, his focus fixated back to solving the problem than talking about Lance’s weird habits and Shiro was fine with that. As long as they were happy then he was glad.

 

***

 

Lance struggles between letting things continue as they are or reluctantly pulling away from Keith to possibly propel themselves into another argument. They were watching a movie and Keith was nestled in his arm. The movie was wrapping up but Lance didn’t want the moment to end, however the topic was long overdue. When the credits are rolling, Keith hasn’t moved an inch and seems to be almost comfortable snuggling against Lance. Nevertheless, Lance stretches, feeling the blood flow return to his arm. Keith starts getting up but Lance holds him back by the wrist.

“We should have done this ages ago but Keith, we have to set up some house rules.” Lance anticipates the muddled look on Keith’s face. 

“Okay?” He sounds uncertain but sits back down as Lance takes a pen and paper from the coffee table to write _“House Rules”_ on top.

“We can talk it out. Say what…” Lance pauses, being very careful of his words, “Habits we think needs to be discussed.”

Keith’s eyes narrow and Lance prepares for impact. In the next hour, they have drafted a list of compromises and solutions to their problems. Keith’s prominent concern with Lance’s “ridiculous” morning routine and stumbling into their apartment like a drunk in the middle of the night. Lance’s concern was more impractical, in his opinion, and had to do with Keith letting the dishes pile up and him leaving the apartment livid. The solutions to their main problems was to have Keith get ready beside him in morning as Lance washed his face and Lance’s _favourite_ , they have to give each other at least a peck before leaving the apartment. 

Keith’s eyes are scanning the paper, his focused on the solution to the last problem. “How is this a solution?” He questions, his mind trying to figure out where Lance’s thoughts are headed.

“This will stop you from leaving the house angry,” Lance states, proud of himself for coming up with the idea. “Hypothetically, you’ll be in higher spirit after a kiss.”

“I think this is more for you than us.”

This time, it was Lance’s turn for his face to contort in disbelief. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“We’ll try it for a week,” Keith says, face still contemplative and doubtful at their new house rules.

“Keith, take our relationship more seriously. It’s not some _free trial_ that you can drop out of after a week,” Lance rebukes, slapping Keith’s arm.

Keith rolls his eyes and wordlessly gets up to leave. Lance stops him by the wrist again, already liking the new rules. “Where are you going without my kiss?”

“I’m not leaving the house though,” Keith stammers, a visible red hue on his face. Lance’s eyes are twinkling and relentless with his fingers still wrap around Keith’s wrist. Keith leans in to give Lance a quick peck on the lips and quickly pulls away, a silly but bashful grin on both of their faces.

 

***

 

Lance acts like he tasted spoiled milk after Hunk made a harmless comment. Hunk makes a note to not talk to Lance when he’s busy shoving food in his mouth. It always felt like Lance was in a rush. A rush to learn new things, a rush to cheat time, a rush to eat as much as he can. Hunk was surprised that Lance hasn’t been ushered to the hospital for choking and turning blue yet. 

“What do you mean _‘you’re surprised that I asked you out?_ ’” Lance exclaims, slamming his fork on the table, insulted that Hunk would even be surprise about it.

“I’m not mad or anything but I would have thought that you’d want to spend more time with Keith.” Hunk shrugs, not sure why Lance was making a big deal out of a simple statement.

“I live with Keith so I can see him whenever,” Lance crows then smiles, inching closer to Hunk. “So of course, I’d want some alone Hunk time.”

Hunk scrunches his nose in discomfort. He is tempted to move to the table over just to prove his point. “Does that sweet-talk work on Keith?”                                                                                                      

“Sadly, no.”

“It’s not working on me either so you should stop,” Hunk mocks and they both laugh at the familiar atmosphere. Hunk really did miss Lance. Hunk’s genuinely happy for Keith and Lance and takes credit for being the wingman but it would be a lie to say that he didn’t feel a bit lonely.  He used to be Lance’s go-to person then suddenly, Lance’s full attention was now divided between him, their friends and Keith.

“Hunk, I miss you,” Lance says while stealing a fry. Usually, he would shove Lance off his chair for that offence but he lets it slide.

 Just like how he can’t tell Lance to stop his baseless flattery, he can’t tell Lance to stop mooching off his plate—though, Hunk suspects that Lance wouldn’t dare try this quackery with Keith. Keith has a nice bedroom card up his sleeve and he isn’t afraid to ban Lance any time. So Hunk decides to spoils Lance tonight.

“Miss you too, buddy.”

 

***

 

Keith knows Lance is staring at him but he tries to overlook it in favor of this homework. Lance becomes more unbearable and yearns for his attention so Lance gets up for water, returns to the bedroom, then goes to the washroom, returns and repeats.

By the fourth time, Keith stops writing and looks up at Lance returning to the bedroom. “Lance, I am going to gouge your eyes out,” he warns through clenched teeth.

“Ouch, feisty.” Lance feigns ignorance and walks over to plop back on the bed. He’s trying to look alarmed at Keith’s outburst and Keith didn’t have time to give Lance the attention he wanted. 

“Lance, _please_ stop,” Keith begs.

“I’m not doing anything though.” Lance’s oblivious act continues and Keith frowns.

“You’ve been walking in and out of the room repeatedly. Now you’re lying in bed, pretending to read while stealing glances at me. I can _feel_ you staring.”

Lance is now donning his bartender smile and Keith knows he’s going to head straight to being smug and annoying.

“Well, Keith, if you hadn’t noticed, it’s almost 1am and I would like to turn off the lights and get ready for bed—ideally with you in it.”

“I want to finish off this last part.” Keith feels Lance boring holes in the back of his head but he ignores him, hoping that Lance would cave in.

“Only that part then bed, okay?” Lance threatens before pulling the comforter over him.

“Roger that,” Keith says with a small grin.

Lance rolls his eyes in defeat at Keith’s back. He reaches for his book and actually starts reading it. Then his thought wonders to Keith and how grateful he is that Keith didn’t catch the faint blush on his face and how he’s so dense despite being smart. He was only able to sense Lance staring but didn’t stop to question why.

No matter how many times Lance sees it, he’s never going to get over how cute Keith looks with a ponytail. He’s blessed to be with a relaxed and carefree Keith that only he can see.

“Keith, I hear you turning the textbook page. Get your arse to bed, now!”

There’s groaning but the lights turn off and Lance smiles, feeling a lazy hand on his waist.   


	4. Passing Time, Passing Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is lonely in a big world with so many possibilities. It can be so beautiful with many things to admire and see with his own eyes but Lance gets lost in that passion and suddenly realizes, he's out of time. Everyone's going places and getting somewhere but Lance is just there. Keith doesn't like seeing Lance like this and struggles to help Lance without overstepping boundaries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay, we've reached 4/7 of klance week. prompt: free day! exam is tomorrow hence the delay, major apologies. i'm also done day 5 but it has to run through the beta but we both live in different timezones so there's not a lot of time to talk and we have a life outside of the fandom which makes it harder :( thank you guys for the kind, very kind words. i really appreciate you guys taking the time to read it, give kudos and comment. i'm incredibly late for klance week but i will finish this!!
> 
> also, as promised, here's a ref pic for lance's uniform [ here ](http://www.uniformsolutionsforyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/grid-vest-6.jpg)  
> usually, the shirt is blue but on special occasions, the shirt's a different color like orange for halloween, red for valentine's day. 
> 
> okay, quick-run before you begin! this is loosely based off an iwaizumi x oikawa (haikyuu!!) [ doujinshi ](http://myreadingmanga.info/shishou-gusari-haikyu-dj-uramado-dogfight-eng/) except with a more angsty tone. also, i wanted to see them in suits hence i included a special event to fulfill that desire LOL. also, this story takes place around 3.5-4 years after the storyline in the first three chapters where they're mid-way through their junior year of university. they'be broken up now (yes, i'm terribly sorry) and feelings linger, subtle glances, knowing looks happens.
> 
> this day is pure angst, not the domestic and fluffy stuff you saw in the previous chapters.

 

Lance lies on the cold, hardwood floor, familiarizing himself with his new apartment. It was so bare and he didn’t like it. New homes always had an eerie feeling to them. It’s because they’ve been untouched for too long. The air gets chilly, dust collects and everything feels lonely. Now the frigid air was engulfing him, trying to suck him of his body heat.

He stands up and walks to the balcony. _Maybe opening the door will warm up his apartment._

He stares down at the view on the street. It was too far up for him to spot any people walking but he could see the patches of green, the flower beds in front of his apartment. The empty feeling spreads and his arms feel numb. The world is big and he’s so high up yet he feels lost. Should he be gazing up towards the endless sky or across the vast horizon?

He peers up and notices someone watching him from the apartment across.

His grip on the balcony railing tightens and he forgets to breathe.

It’s Keith staring back at him.

 _Ex-boyfriend Keith_.

Keith’s face looks as dumbfounded and confused as Lance’s probably does. Wordlessly, Keith darts back inside and Lance does the same; preferring his cold apartment than the embarrassing heat outside.

_What’s Keith doing here?_

 

***

 

Keith lies on his couch, staring at his phone in contemplation. It’s been a few days since Lance moved in and while Keith is preoccupied with his job, he still catches him going for morning jogs and grocery shopping. They would gawkily nod, mumble a small ‘hi,’ fidget awkwardly then fill the void of silence with obvious coughs and leave.

Keith wanted to know why Lance is here. He knew that Lance didn’t know that he lives here, his friends wouldn’t tell Lance that—even if they did, Lance wouldn’t move here, not 3 years after their break-up. 

Another feeling is eating away at Keith and he knows that it’s worry. Lance doesn’t seem like himself and this doesn’t sit right with Keith. There has to be a reason why Lance is here; he knows that this neighbourhood isn’t Lance’s first choice.

His phone suddenly rings and Keith almost drops it in surprise. It’s Hunk and Keith’s mind automatically thinks of _Lance_ and he’s mentally slapping himself.

“Hey,” Keith answers.

 _“Long time no talk, how are you?”_ Hunk’s voice is bouncing with excitement and Keith’s mood lightens up. He’s glad that Hunk hasn’t changed.

“I’m doing okay, the same old. How about you?”

 _“I don’t know what the ‘same old’ is for you because I only see you twice a year,”_ Hunk lectures and Keith is almost happy to have Hunk nagging at him. _“But I’m good otherwise.”_

Keith doesn’t have anything to say about him cutting contact off with Hunk. He is Lance’s best friend and because of their messy break-up, Keith was too ashamed and scared to talk to Hunk. He also didn’t want to have the chance of running into Lance while with he was with Hunk but Hunk, being the great person he is, always reassures Keith that he wasn’t taking sides and would be there if Keith needed. Despite the comforting words, Keith still felt weird to be around someone who was near Lance so much.

“Hunk…” Keith hesitates. _Is it okay to talk about Lance with Hunk?_ Would he go running his mouth off to Lance? It wasn’t like Keith was going to talk bad about Lance, he just wanted answers to his questions so he could sleep decently tonight.   

 _“All ears,”_ Hunk answers.

“Why did Lance move here?”

There’s a low _“oh”_ from Hunk’s end. _“That’s why Shiro was so startled when I told him where Lance was living,”_ he mumbles loud enough for Keith to hear.

Keith’s mind is at work again. It made sense that Hunk didn’t know where Keith lived, they’ve only met twice or thrice a year. The majority of their interactions were through texting, which Keith still isn’t very good at.

 _“This isn’t some scheming plan, rest assured.”_ Hunk says.

“Okay.” Keith answers, although he truly wanted to know why Lance was here.

He remembered Lance liking the buzzing city, he liked how the night offered another life to live, new people to meet, new sights to admire. This neighbourhood was quiet, near community centers and schools. The mornings didn’t have adults rushing to work, taxis circling the area but it had parents ushering their children to school, elderlies doing yoga in the park. It was more quiet, more run-down but Keith preferred this.

But it wasn’t like Keith could easily probe into Lance’s life. There are consequences he can’t handle and a line he shouldn’t cross.

 _“Are you going to Shiro and Allura’s wedding?”_ Hunk inquires.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I?”

_“Lance.”_

“I wouldn’t avoid the wedding because of Lance,” Keith says sullenly. He really had to work on bettering his image because if Hunk thought this then what were his other friends thinking?

_“Good. Shiro was actually worried because you’ve been doing a good job at hiding, he thought you’d come up with another excuse and bail last minute.”_

Keith is Shiro’s best man. It’s really an honor that Shiro had asked him. Shiro’s been such a great friend and mentor and Allura always wants the best for her friends, helping Keith out more than she took credit for.  Keith wouldn’t even dream of missing out on their happiest day.

“Allura would never let that happen. She’d drag me to the airport if she had to. Anyways, I’m in charge of the bachelor party so I can’t miss that.”

 _“Glad to see she’s still the same,”_ Hunk laughs. _“That means we’re all leaving at the same time.”_ This was Hunk’s way of telling Keith, gently, that Lance was also coming along next week.

Keith hasn’t seen Lance since they graduated, which makes it two years. He would have seen him a month ago at Shiro and Allura’s engagement dinner but it coincided with an overseas conference that his supervisor wanted him to attend, to get experience and exposure. However, Keith thinks that his friends think otherwise. All the times he actually did bail on them was coming back to bite him. He really did reap what he sow.

“Is that all you want to say?” Hunk’s call was suddenly now making sense to Keith.

 _“It’s also because of Lance…”_ Hunk trails off. _“Try not to be too harsh on him.”_

“You think I’m going to throw daggers at him or something?” Keith tries to pass it off as a joke but he could tell from Hunk’s silence that he wasn’t convincing anybody.

 _“No, I know you wouldn’t do that. It’s just…”_ Hunk pauses. _“He’s going through some…stuff and he’s supposed to be recharging so I don’t want him to worry about anything else.”_

Keith wanted to inquire further about the “stuff” that Lance is going through but stops himself. He didn’t know what Lance has been up to these past three years so it wasn’t like Keith would understand what he’s going through now. It also felt too _personal_ for Keith to know Lance’s struggle. They could hardly call each other friends so it felt wrong for Keith to know things he shouldn’t know, especially learning about it through Hunk and not Lance himself.

Was it why Lance moved here? Away from the life and excitement of the city? To a more solemn area where he could overcome his struggle without any distractions?

“Alright…I hope things get better.” Keith states, awkwardly. He didn’t know what to say but he hears Hunk exhale a sigh of relief.

_“Sorry to make you sound like the bad guy, you’re not but—”_

“You’re being a good friend, I understand.”

 _“I’m also your good friend too, Keith,”_ Hunk corrects and Keith smiles. Keith missed talking to Hunk and was now anticipated seeing everyone again next week, maybe even Lance. 

 

***

 

Lance gloats merrily over his new children, the potted flowers, in front of him. Walks around the neighbourhood acquainted him with the baker and florist down the street. He comes back with lunch and a box of flowers. Lance hates unpacking because he always brought too many things with him, claiming they had sentimental value. So instead of unpacking, he decides to buy more things to make his home feel warm, a little less lonely but he might have went a little overboard with the flowers. However, he’s now on good terms with the florist so it’s a win-win situation.

 _He now knows the difference between perennial and annual flowers._ He sets the flowers down on the white table left behind by the previous tenant but stops to stare at the purple flower and laughs—he already forgot if they were pansies or petunias. In the next hour, he works at setting up his small balcony with music streaming from his phone.

It was a tough decision whether he should hang the marigolds, verbena, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, impatiens and pansies or petunias off the rail or display them on the table but Lance would rather deal with this trouble than the ones that kept him up at night.

Lance stops admiring his children when he hears something and looks up to catch Keith with half his body out the balcony. Keith stops mid-way, realization flashing in his eyes. He freezes and Lance greets him briefly with a nod before going back to his flowers. Lance hears the balcony door sliding shut and he wonders if Keith went back inside. He wouldn’t be surprised though: Keith has always been awkward with confrontation. He’s probably looking for a new place as these thoughts run through Lance’s mind.

Lance hasn’t seen Keith in years and he knows Hunk barely sees Keith. Keith has been doing a good job at avoiding Lance for the past few years. He goes through great lengths at skipping their annual get-togethers, making up a unique excuse every time. Eventually, they stop expecting Keith to come.

Though Lance knows that Shiro has been keeping in contact, Allura and Pidge sees him for coffee once in a while but it wasn’t like they’d tell Lance anything. It also wasn’t like Lance deserved to know anything either. So they act like Keith didn’t exist.

Keith doesn’t know why he’s out on the balcony at 11am in the morning. He heard music and wanted to see who it was but it was too early for him to remember that Lance is his neighbour. So now he’s stuck outside, watching as Lance put more attention on his plants than Keith. He wasn’t mad but didn’t expect Lance to have an interest in flora. Back then, Lance had plastic plants because they were easier to care for and were just as aesthetically pleasing.

“How have you been these past years?” Keith raises his voice, loud enough for Lance to hear. His head shoots up, alarmed and Keith stares back earnestly. He doesn’t like the thought of Lance going through ‘things’ and want him to get back on his feet. Even though this was out of Keith’s character but he found himself doing pretty questionable things when it came to Lance back then so this isn’t much of a change.

Keith wanted to hear what Lance’s been up to, what piques his interest, what his job is like, where he used to live. Keith wanted to hear all of that to piece together why the twinkle in Lance’s eyes are dimmer, why his voice doesn’t sound as arrogant as it used to.

“Good,” Lance fibbed. Lance doesn’t think of it as a lie because it’s been drilled into him that it was polite to say “good,” that “good” is the safest answer. Keith probably doesn’t want to hear his story so Lance is saving him the trouble. “How about you? Are you finally going overseas?”

Keith sees Lance’s gracious smile and feels guilty. Lance was always so thoughtful that sometimes he forgets about himself. Keith knows that Lance doesn’t want to know the answer but he still asks because he genuinely wants to know. So Keith doesn’t reply with a “good” even though things were _good._

“No, I’m working right now to pay off my loans. Though I am taking a project management course online.” Keith wanted to say that the online course is a stepping stone to getting him overseas, to getting him the job he wants but Lance looks sad for a second and Keith stops, regretting it. _Maybe he overstepped it._   

“What are you doing now then?” Lance’s hand are on the rail, closer to Keith; his full attention is on him and Keith is glad that they’re having a proper conversation.

“I’m on the research ethnic board at a hospital, doing administrative stuff like screening applications.” Keith starts rambling, squirming under Lance’s eyes. He’s probably saying more than he should so he changes the topic. “How about you? What are you up to?”

“I’m in the non-profit sector but you know how unstable that field is.” Lance shrugs, a sour nuance in his voice. “I still bartend on the side.”

Keith’s shock at this new information. He had always thought that bartending was something Lance did because it pays well, better than any retail or work study job would get him. Five shifts were enough to cover Lance’s rent and sometimes necessity—depending on the tip, though he _did_ have to work for it. Lance never mentioned it being long-term.

Lance watches Keith take in all the information, displaying everything on his face. They both haven’t change. Keith is still taking on more than he can handle, putting too much on his plate whereas Lance bartends part-time, still not knowing what he wants to do.

“You should take it easy. Working full-time while schooling? You’re still an over-achiever,” Lance teases and Keith’s brows furrow at Lance’s jab.

“Shut up. It’s only an online course and I’ll be done in a year,” Keith responds defensively, crossing his arms.

“ _Only an online course. Geez Keith._ ”

They look each other in the eyes and start laughing. The atmosphere feels _so_ familiar and Lance misses it. He misses picking on Keith, his dumb, snarky comments, and laughing with him.

“What’s with the flowers? There’s at least a dozen of them.” Keith wants to continue talking with Lance. He makes a show of eying the flowers, the chairs and the table so Lance doesn’t notice Keith evidently trying to talk. Lance had some flowers hanging off the railing and the rest on the table. Keith feels a bit ashamed that Lance’s balcony is more decorated than his own empty one.

Lance arches a surprised brow at Keith, noting that he’s gotten considerable chatty. Entering the workforce did Keith good.

“The florist down the street is very charming and sweet; the next thing you know, my wallet is $90 lighter,” Lance grins. “I bet you don’t even know who I’m talking about.”

Keith scowls because Lance was right. He _didn’t_ know there was a florist down the street. Sometimes being nice to Lance was hard because he gets so haughty.

“Glad to see you’re still buttering people up,” Keith retorts and realizes the situation he’s gotten himself into. They were talking like _old times_ , as if them mumbling small hellos this past week didn’t happen. Suddenly they weren’t self-conscious around each other anymore. Keith wonders if things should be like that. People don’t talk to their exes half the time so what’s supposed to happen when they _do_ talk? What boundaries are there? 

Keith catches Lance staring at him and doesn’t suppress the small grin on his face. _Crap._

“So tomorrow we’re flying to Bali,” Lance starts speaking, sounding unexpectedly shy. “Do you want to share a taxi?”

“Only because you’re $90 lighter,” Keith replies.

“You’re still sharp as ever.”

“Oh, Pidge is also coming. She suggested the same thing so she’s staying the night.”

“I think Pidge is only coming because she’s concerned that you won’t show up, not about splitting cab fare,” Lance jokes and enjoys the flustered look on Keith’s face.

Keith opens his mouth to bark back but he’s interrupted by a knock on his door. He looks back to Lance.

“Someone’s at the door, it’s probably Pidge.”

Keith leaves to open the door and Pidge greets him with a big brown suitcase, a small carry on and a backpack. There’s a bright “hey” when her eyes suddenly narrows and she’s staring hard at Keith. He avoids her gaze and shifts to block her view of Lance, wanting to explain the situation but she’s faster.

“Is that Lance?” Pidge blurts out and Keith wants to warn her to speak quietly or he’ll hear but it’s not too late. She rushes past him, leans out into his balcony and waves. “LANCE!”

Keith hears Lance yell back a happy “Pidge, my child!” and groans. _There is a lot of explaining to do._ He turns around and Pidge’s eyes are piercing him with questions that he honestly didn’t have the answers to.

 

***

 

There were so much regrets the next morning.

After Pidge was done glaring at Keith for not telling her anything—there wasn’t anything to confess!—and getting the nod of approval, they ended up going to Lance’s place because he mentioned video games and Pidge was sold. Keith isn’t much of a gamer but he hated losing and with Lance and Pidge egging him on, they played until 3am with a 10:30am flight the next morning.

“We’re cutting it real close,” Keith remarks, getting anxious of the time. _8:13am. They were going to get there a little over 8:40am. They were cutting it too close._

“We’re still going to be early,” Pidge yawns, snuggling up and resting her head comfortably on Keith’s shoulder.

He sighs. “We’re supposed to be two hours early.”

Pidge murmurs something incoherent and Keith gives up on conversation. His eyes drift to Lance who was doze off on his other shoulder. He doesn’t know if Lance purposely used his shoulder as a pillow but he gives him the benefit of the doubt because Lance _did_ let him win a few rounds on purpose yesterday.

Despite Keith nagging at them to _hurry it up, to quicken their pace,_ Lance walked like he had all the time in the world and Pidge purposely took her time because Keith told her to hustle. They were both a lost cause.

Keith spots Hunk first who glows at the sight of them. Then he sees Coran fretting about something, Shiro’s gentle, knowing smile and Allura who looks like she’s seconds away from giving them the biggest lecture—he hasn’t heard Allura’s badgering in a while and it isn’t something he miss.

“You guys are late! C’mon, we have to go check-in,” Coran exclaims. Keith grimace, it’s too early for Coran’s yelling. Allura throws in multiple comments about Keith’s ‘malnourished’ state, Pidge’s perpetual bedhead—do you even own a comb, Pidge?—and Lance’s unshaven face.

“Good luck Shiro,” Lance mutters under his breath, drawing rowdy laughter from Pidge, Hunk and Keith, a slap on the arm by Coran and small chuckles from Shiro and Allura. Pidge and Lance start gushing about their game night and they start making bets.

“I wouldn’t bet on drinking Lance, Pidge’s alcohol tolerance is pretty high for someone so small,” Hunk warns with a hearty laugh.

Lance gives Hunk a very smug grin. “Who do you think I am?”

Keith smiles. The group dynamic with the squabbling and laughing made him feel like they travelled back to when they were in university, when meet-ups like this were a regular thing. Now they have to rely on big events to gather the group together and Keith wishes he had held the happy, mundane moments closer to his heart.

 

***

 

Lance digs one hand deeper into his pocket while his other one held onto his flip-flops. Lance loves Bali. The air is dewy and fresh, the ocean is a lovelier shade of blue, and the sunset has a beauty of its own. He feels like he can live here for a month and still not fully capture the wonders it can offer. Now he knows why Allura wanted Bali to be the site of her wedding. It was mesmerizing.  

His feet sinks into the powdery sand with every step. Though there was an outdoor evening party with Pidge DJing and Hunk serving the food, which gave Lance every reason to be there and not here strolling on the beach, he needed a break from the nostalgia. He never realize how much he misses his friends until now: when they’re all together, goofing around. He misses being carefree, making dumb jokes to draw smiles on their faces.

As much as he misses them and their jolly times, it makes him just as sad and a little lonely. He remembers his job and its heavy responsibilities. The feeling of excitement slowly being morphed into fright and grief feels too familiar. The thank-yous carrying a hint of _good-byes, don’t-gos and I don’t want to leave_. Lance stops walking and stands still, staring into the ocean and the moon’s dreamy reflection off it.

The world is so big, with so many possibilities, yet there wasn’t a place for Lance. He felt out of place and lost. He could force himself into a crack since there _was_ an opening for him. It was the safe path, the content one that offered stable pay and good benefits but Lance didn’t want to play it ‘safe,’ yet he was afraid of the more challenging path, the path that made him feel alive. So then, where could a coward like him fit in this infinite world?

His phone rings and Lance knows who it is before he sees the caller ID.

Lance sighs before picking up, “Hunk, I am safe and sound.”

 _“Good to know Lance,”_ Hunk’s voice is muffled and Lance suspects he’s currently stuffing himself. _“Where are you then?”_

“Hunk, you don’t have to check up on me.” Lance rolls his eyes. “I’m at the beach by the party, not making out with anyone, if that’s what you wanted to know.” Lance laughs loudly, hearing Hunk choke on his food. Hunk curses and Lance laughs harder.

_“What did you say to Hunk? He just passed me the phone, coughing and went to get water.”_

Lance stops laughing immediately at Keith’s voice, embarrassed. “Nothing.”

 _“Okay, suspicious,”_ Keith comments.

“What’s more suspicious is you staying at the party.”

 _“It’s even more suspicious that you’re not here,”_ Keith barks back cunningly.

“True.” Lance nods. “I’m heading to the market, see what night-life is like here.”

_“Shiro isn’t going to like that.”_

“I think Shiro is too busy to notice.”

_“True.”_

There’s an aching silence.

Keith wants to join Lance but doesn’t want to bring it up. Lance knows that Keith wants to come and _usually_ he would invite him but he feels weird doing it now.

Sometimes, Lance forgets that they dated and it was easy to when they haven’t seen each other in so long. Now that they’re talking again, they’re slowly getting used to each other’s new and old habits. It’s been three years but it feels more like a century with everything that’s happened in-between.

Eventually the silence is taxing enough for Lance and he caves in. “Want to come?”

“Sure,” Keith replies immediately and Lance rolls his eyes. Despite their changed relationship, Keith sure acted the same.

 

***

 

“You could have eaten at the hotel,” Keith retorts. “How do you have Thai currency already?”

“Gotta be prepared Keith and it’s called baht,” Lance jeers, paying for both of their skewers. “And I’m the one buying you food so stop judging.”

“I didn’t know we were eating out or I would have suggested the hotel.” Keith shrugs. Lance isn’t buying his excuse but hands him his skewer anyway. Keith was a difficult case back then so Lance didn’t expect him to change much now.

Keith steals a not-so-subtle glance at Lance. Lance is a night-owl, firmly believing that things, sceneries, and people are different at night. They feel more magical, more wonderful and Keith never understood that concept but seeing Lance’s eyes tonight—them darting to the different stalls, lingering on a specific instrument—Keith was a little convinced, just a little bit though. He was glad that _this_ Lance still existed, that there was a part of Lance that Keith still knew.

“How’s the bachelor party coming along?” Lance asks, stopping to observe some flower crowns. A smirk plays on his lips and Keith knows what Lance is thinking.

“We are not wearing flower crowns,” Keith rejects promptly.

Lance pouts, touching the flowers. “You let Coran talk you into wearing tacky, grandpa Hawaiian shirts but say no to flower crowns?” Lance argues, “I’m hurt.”

“That was one bad idea from Coran, I’ve already included three of your bad drinking ideas which includes straight face, medusa and drink Jenga**—I can’t believe you brought Jenga to a wedding.”

“Jenga is a classic,” Lance cries. It was even more fun with drunk people who can’t see straight. “Though, you’re doing a good job incorporating everyone’s idea.”

“I do what I can,” Keith replies. It wasn’t easy when there were so many people with so many ideas. Keith was frankly more worried about alcohol poisoning at this rate but he didn’t think everyone would be sober enough to get pass the third drinking game.

“It always felt like nothing could hold you down, like you were made to do great things.” Lance marvels and Keith turns to him, expecting Lance to carry a cocky grin but he’s not. Instead, he’s looking thoughtful and sincere which makes Keith flush red.

Keith pauses, wondering how he should respond. He opts to go for his honest opinion.

“It’s the same for you, Lance. You were always so excited, eager to learn new things that you’d charge head first into anything that remotely caught your interest,” Keith remarks, speaking more tenderly.

Lance’s face softens into a smile. “Yeah, but now I’m mildly interested in everything with no passion for anything.”

Keith’s face darken with confusion. How could Lance turn something that made him so alive, so exhilarating into something so lifeless and ugly?

“That’s not true. You pull your all into everything you do, it’s not a bad thing.”

 _Keith would know._ He’s the one that put up with Lance coming back at 3am, with his head in the clouds because the all-night art show was wonderful and he’s bouncing with excitement to take Keith there the next night. Or Lance telling him a funny fact he learned while reading and Keith is smiling because Lance found it _so ridiculous_ but was completely enticed. Something like that should be celebrated, not repulsed.

“I guess.” Lance shrugs and walks faster, not wanting to press on the topic.

“It isn’t, Lance.” Keith grabs Lance’s arm to stop him, to make him listen. “It really isn’t. It’s something I admire so don’t talk down on it.”

Lance doesn’t turn around so Keith doesn’t know what kind of face he’s making. He hears a low “Thank you” and Lance starts walking again.

His voice sounds small, courteous and it stops Keith from arguing further. Lance’s hand slides down to slip into Keith’s and there are red flags of impending doom—even Keith knows that this was not good but something about Lance told Keith that he _needed_ this small form of support.

Whatever they are, Keith doesn’t care. If they’re friends then he should do this. If they’re not then Keith will still do it. Keith looks down at their hands, knowing that there are some strings attached and probably more are being tied in with every step they take. Keith really didn’t know if giving someone a second chance is a good idea— _it isn’t most of the time, Keith knew that much—_ but their relationship was an exception; they didn’t break up on bad terms, there was no third party or yelling. It was a sad break up with crying and eyes saying _“don’t go.”_

But Keith doesn’t delve into this mess further since Lance makes up half of it. Keith just wanted to touch Lance, to make sure that he’s here and not slipping away. So this is enough for him.

They continue to wander the market, not really enjoying it like they should have but to pass time; something Lance has been doing for the last few months.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so as you can see, this ends off a bad cliff-hanger. this idea honestly got out of hand because my buddy and i kept throwing ideas at each other during klance week but most of them didn't fit in with the prompts so we just went "Nah, we'll add it to the free day, that's the purpose of it." then i reviewed my notes and there were a lot of ideas which i still decided to incorporate but it can't be contained in a one-shot so i actually deleted a lot of scenes (~2k worth of words). so ultimately, it's going to be a multichapter work (HAHAHA) or else I can't sleep at all with all these klance thoughts but feedback on that? would you guys be up for that? it does get more angsty and dark though, let that be my warning LOL. 
> 
> some more notes **: Keith mentions three of lance's drinking games ideas. here's an idea of what they were to see how ridiculous lance can be:  
> straight face: when everyone writes a funny/inappropriate/ridiculous things on a small piece of paper and someone else reads it. if the reader fails then they have to drink (lance would write the best things LOL).
> 
> medusa: everyone sits in a circle with shots in the middle with their heads down. on the count of three then everyone lifts their head to look at one person. if the person you're looking at is looking at someone else then you're safe. however, if you're both looking at each other then you're both punished and have to drink the shots (can you guess who loses?).
> 
> drink Jenga: So Jenga is a game where you have these rectangular blocks stacked up in rows of three until there are no more blocks. one by one, the player takes a block from the structure and place it on top of the structure (whether you place it perfectly is up to you). if the structure falls when someone is trying to take a block or put it back then they lose. now, in drinking Jenga, the blocks have rules on them (eg: drink two shots, make a random animal noise, strip, tell a truth, etc) and whichever block you take, you have to adhere to the instructions written on them. 
> 
> Now, i'm not encouraging people to drink, regardless if you're of age or underage. these are fun games to play but drink reasonably please :) I know they actually don't get to play the drinking game but just a fun thought if anyone wants to imagine how wild they get.


	5. Of Cold Lips and Suave Smiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance believes that kisses can solve anything, even Keith's fuming anger. Unfortunately for Keith, it does work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 5/7 of klance week: ice/fire. Honestly, I stared at this prompt for quite a while bc _how can I write with this prompt??_ but i thought of skating for ice and keith's rage for fire and this fic was born! LOL!
> 
> edit: okay so i confused quite a few of you and i apologized for that. time to clear up some things. i'm writing this story according to the prompts given and coincidentally, the first two prompts fall in chronological order with prompt 3 looking like it does but prompt 5 could easily happen between prompt 2 and 3 or it could happen prior to klance moving in together. i did leave a warning on prompt 2 that it picks up from prompt 1 but never for prompt 3, 4, 5. Having said that, those days are like little drabbles or scenes happening to klance in the same universe; those scenes from prompt 3, 4, 5 aren't in sequential order. If anything, prompt 4 is from the future and 1-3 + 5 happen in the same timeline. so dont expect prompt 6, 7 to be in chronology bc I'm writing it completely based on the prompts given. to be completeply honest, i never wrote these prompts (minus 1 and 2) with the intention of them following in sequential order; this isn't a story that starts from point A and goes to point B, its just random klance moments that are associated with the prompts that happen in this university setting that i've made up for them.
> 
> edit edit: i won't be touching prompt 4's storyline; im gonna delve into it when i create the multichaptered fic. prompt 6 and 7 happens before prompt 4 but could honestly happen any time during prompt 1-3, 5. it doesn't serve to drive the plot forward per se but just quenches my klance thirst for fluffy moments.

 

Keith is late and for once, he’s glad that he is. Truthfully, he wasn’t trying very hard to be punctual because he was practically coerced by his friends to come along. Today was the day they go ice skating. Keith didn’t know how to skate and didn’t plan on falling flat on his butt so he rejected the offer—except, he _couldn’t_ reject because it was a group activity so _everyone_ had to be there. Even Shiro couldn’t get him out of it. When Keith mentioned work, everyone wanted to change days so Keith knew he had to come. So he decided that coming later was better than dreadfully enduring the full two hours of it.

The dome comes into view and his stomach drops. He wasn’t going to like the next few hours. Keith feels the temperature drop the minute he walks in and the list of things to regret grows. Luckily, the group stays together so he spots them easily on the ice.

Keith swears that Pidge told him that she didn’t know how to skate but he sees her, racing Hunk to the other side of the arena. Though when she crashes into the wall, Keith considers that maybe she was telling the truth. Allura doesn’t know either and she’s shaky on the ice but she’s holding tightly onto Shiro’s hand as he skates backwards, leading her around the rink. Allura can’t be hating it too much but Shiro must be suffering. _Allura has a grip of steel._

Keith doesn’t want to know how he’ll be on the ice. He can only imagine him falling every time he attempts to move an inch. It wasn’t fun and he’s wearing denim so it’s going to stay cold and wet for a while.

Lance spots him and starts waving. Keith waves back feebly and tries not to grimace when he comes over. He seems happy so Keith tries harder to hide his discomfort of possibly falling and slicing his fingers. Lance leans in for a quick kiss and Keith flushes at the public display but doesn’t push him away.

“Your lips are cold,” Keith notes and Lance just smiles wider.

“Yours would be cold too if you were here earlier,” Lance says. Keith stalls for a few more seconds until Lance gives him a defeated sigh. “Better hurry and get your skates or Allura’s going to come after you.”

“Can I—”

“No, you have to come.”

Lance comes off the rink and Keith notices how much taller he is with the extra inches. Lance notices too because he’s grinning like a devil. “I like this view”

“Shut up or I’ll push you off-balance.”

 

***

 

Lance wanted to throw Pidge up in the air and celebrate her for mentioning skating. Keith is almost never troubled but walking with skates had him tumbling and fumbling so much, he had to hold onto Lance to get to the rink. _Lance is definitely enjoying this moment._ Keith also has his hair in a ponytail so that’s a nice added bonus. It also meant Keith was serious about learning how to skate, just like how he was always serious about his studies.

“I’m going to die young,” Keith murmurs, dreading the idea even though he hasn’t set foot, or rather blade, on the ice.

“You are not. You’re so melodramatic,” Lance criticizes. He knows Keith’s glaring at him but he also feels Keith holding onto his hand harder.

“You can’t let go of me on the ice,” Keith reminds him and Lance nods for the 5th time. “And no kissing either.”

“Wait, why?!” Lance exclaims and Keith gives him a pointed look.

“Because I can’t be distracted while skating,” Keith states matter-of-factly though Lance is flattered that he's considered an object of distraction. 

Lance is pouting but Keith stands his ground.

“Fine,” Lance agrees ungrudgingly.

“You’re the melodramatic one, acting like you’re going to die without a kiss.” Lance groans in reply and Keith laughs.

 

***

 

Keith is not graceful on ice as he is on land, he had expected this but trying to balance his weight on two thin blades is beyond him. He was defying the law of physics right now and wonders how people wear high heels. He has a newfound respect for people who skate for a career and wear high heel on a regular basis.

“Keith, bend your knees more,” Lance urges, smiling gently at Keith who’s more focused on stopping his knees from buckling. “Also, mind loosening the grip?” Keith is holding onto his hands too hard but he doesn’t seem to be listening.

The second Keith was on ice, his persona changed and he grew more nervous and clingy. Lance relishes in the sight of a troubled Keith. It’s nice seeing Keith uneasy, it makes him feel more real because it shows that there are some things that _even_ he isn’t good at. Plus, it’s a nice ego boost because Lance happens to be better at it than Keith.

“Easier said than done,” Keith replies promptly, amazed that he actually managed to get a few meters on ice. Though the credit went to Lance who was guiding Keith around, similar to Shiro and Allura earlier.

“How are you so good at this? You’re skating backwards and I can’t even go forward.” Skating never came up in their conversation so Keith assumed that Lance didn’t know how to but he can stop on the ice and anyone that can do that is a professional.

“We have a rink at school and it’s free. University students flock to free stuff.”

Keith stares at Lance, not quite believing his reason. “I bet it’s because you were trying to impress someone.”

“We do _not_ mention that,” Lance warns jokingly and Keith reminds himself to ask Hunk about it later because this is potential blackmail material.

“Keith, you finally came!” Hunk greets, followed by Allura, Shiro and Pidge who comes with _hellos, his_ and _heys._

“You don’t look very happy,” Pidge points out.

“I’m suffering right now.” Keith frowns.

“Once you get the hang of it, you’ll love it. You’re just too tense right now,” Allura points out. “You should let go of Lance and try it.”

“You shouldn’t be talking,” Keith mocks, nodding at Allura and Shiro’s held hands.

Allura is displeased so she pulls out of Shiro’s hand to do a quick circle around them to prove her point. “There, now you try it.”

Shiro looks grossly proud of Allura and Keith would be happy for him if Allura wasn’t making his life miserable.

Keith really did dig his grave this time. He should remember to not mess with Allura, especially when he’s in a more vulnerable state.

“Keith, we’ve all fallen learning how to skate, it’s nothing to worry about,” Shiro advises and Keith almost reconsiders his words until he feels Lance withdrawing his hands from his and his automatic response is to panic.

As much as Lance likes holding hands with Keith, he wants Keith to learn how to skate as well. It _can_ be fun if Keith would let himself fall a few times. If he doesn’t fall then he doesn’t learn. Keith’s eyes are threatening him to _not let go_ and Lance almost relents but finally brings his hands back to his side.

“I can get you a chair.” Lance offers and Keith sulks, clearly not liking the idea. He was going to get laughed at for sure.

Keith is fuming and terrified because there’s nothing to support him so he’s going to fall and get a concussion. At least Lance isn’t smirking or else Keith would have to wipe it off his face with a punch—if he can throw one without falling on his back that is.

“No, I don’t want a chair.”

“You can push me while I sit on it,” Pidge teases and Keith feels a bit betrayed because they were supposed to struggle _together_ today.

“No, no more crashing into the walls today,” Hunk declares, crossing his arms. “You need to learn how to stop properly.”

Pidge glowers, not liking that idea either. “I’ll teach Keith how to skate.”

Everyone gives Pidge a funny look, including Shiro which meant it was a _very questionable_ idea. Even Keith knows something was wrong with that but Pidge latches onto Keith’s arm before he could object and creates distance him and the group already.

Keith adds more to his growing list of regrets.

 

***

 

“I’m going to take these off,” Keith announces and scrambles to waddle away from Pidge. He wants to scream in frustration because he’s cold, his butt is sore from the falls and Pidge is an awful teacher.

“But you finally manage to skate across the arena, stay for a bit,” Pidge whines. She’s proud of Keith for getting so far in only half an hour. It started with Keith holding onto her for his dear life then Pidge ruthlessly giving him a push and practically forcing him to learn how to balance, cue the multiple falls, and Keith could glide a centimeter without flailing his arms ridiculously. Add in some more falls and Keith could skate reasonably well. Then he started bending his knees and he could race Pidge if he wanted but he still didn’t know how to stop. Though, Keith decides that that accomplishment should be saved for another day—never—and resolves that it’s time for a much-needed break.

“Pidge, I’m freezing. Your lips are turning purple.”

“But I don’t feel cold,” Pidge whines some more. She starts circling Keith to prove her point. “If you keep skating then you’ll warm up.”

“Why are you so adamant on making me stay?” Keith questions suspiciously. He glances over to the main group and Hunk gives him a thumbs-up.

“Maybe because I miss hanging out with you,” Pidge admits shyly and Keith tries to follow her with his eyes but he gets dizzy. “It’s been so long since we’ve hung out and that doesn’t include Thursday evening in the study room.”

He grows warm at Pidge’s honesty, which is something very rare. He didn’t know that she felt this way. They were roommates in first year so they came home to each other after a long day so they have a lot of inside jokes up their sleeves and memories that spanned miles. He never thought she would miss him, especially when they see each other several times a week.

“I’ll come back, just need a little rest,” Keith says, patting her shoulder. “Then we can race?”

She gleams with excitement and cheers, “Alright! Loser has to treat the winner to lunch.”

“Deal,” Keith smiles, knowing that he was going to treat her because that’s how they’ve always been: he treats lunch and she treats their study runs.

“Hunk brought hot chocolate, it’s in the yellow thermos in his bag.” She grabs his arm and leads him back to the rink entrance, much to Keith’s relief. _She deserved a big lunch for this._  

So Keith spends the next 15 minutes with warm, hot chocolate in his hands, finally able to feel his feet again. He'ss perfectly fine with just watching everyone having fun because if they have fun then Keith's having fun.

“How’s the hot chocolate?”

Keith looks up to see Hunk. “It’s creamy, I like it.”

“That’s good, Pidge said it was _too_ creamy but I beg to differ.”

“I think Pidge says it to spite you,” Keith laughs and Hunk nods, agreeing. Hunk pours himself a cup and they silently watch everyone on the rink together idly. Keith spies Lance and his face darkens. Lance wasn’t alone, on the contrary, he seems elated to be with another guy. They were chatting really happily and Keith swears, Lance is donning his flashy, bartender smile. The other guy seems to be hanging off of Lance’s every word. _Something about them seems off._

Keith narrows his eyes as Hunk feels the heavy tension in the air. Hunk has somehow put himself in a very awkward spot but he doesn’t feel right leaving. _Dammit Lance._

From the corner of his eyes, Hunk can tell that Keith’s fury is bubbling slowly, harmless for now but definitely lethal later. However, Hunk didn’t think that Keith was capable of being jealous, especially since he was always shooting down Lance’s advances. Admittedly, Hunk is entertained by this side of Keith; it was cute.

“He’s a friend,” Hunk clarifies, sounding extremely suspicious. He wasn’t sure of how much he can say without Keith coming at Lance with a machete.

“I see,” Keith responds coldly. Hunk freaks out because what does _‘I see’_ even mean. Hunk pretends not to notice Keith’s scowl growing deeper.

The mood takes a sharp drop and Hunk sips more hot chocolate. Hunk is sending SOS signals to Pidge, Shiro or Allura, to anyone that can come over to help or at least, join Lance so Keith would stop staring daggers at Lance. Hunk is surprised that Lance hasn’t felt shivers crawling down his spine yet. _Ignorance really is a bliss._

“So how did they meet?” Keith further inquiries, his gaze still fixated on them skating merrily together. Lance laughs at something the person says and Hunk is mentally begging Lance to _stop._

Keith watches as the person skates effortlessly, as if they were gliding on the ice. They make it look _so easy_ and Keith feels a little threaten.

Hunk hesitates in telling the truth but knows that hell will break loose if there are loopholes in Lance’s story so he painstakingly opts for the truth. “They met while skating.”

“Oh, so it was during first year.” Keith fills his cup with more hot chocolate. It was scary how taciturn Keith’s voice sounded, as if he didn’t care but Hunk knew that he did. “Did they learn together?”

“Yeah, you know how first year is. You’re excited to start university and you channel that excitement elsewhere…” Hunk realizes that he might have said too much so he stops talking. He hopes that Keith doesn’t get the wrong idea, even though it's the right idea but he doesn’t want to tell Keith that.

“That’s _intimate_.” There’s an edge to intimate and Hunk sends a telepathic apology to Lance. _He isn’t good at this, in fact, he’s adding oil to the fire._

“You can ask Lance if you’d like, I’m not too sure of the details,” Hunk lies, hoping that Keith would say _‘yes’_ so he can leave and drag Lance by the collar over here.

“It’s fine, thank you.” Keith is being polite now and this scares Hunk more than ever. It’s the _‘calm before the storm’_ feeling, the quiet anger waiting to erupt. This makes Keith unpredictable and Hunk scratches his face, awkwardly. His mind is trying to find the words to cool that anger but nothing comes to mind.

Finally Pidge catches Hunk’s eye and he hopes she can read his distress signal. She shakes her head in Lance’s general direction with a slicing motion across her neck. Hunk nods and she hurries over to Lance, much to Hunk’s relief.

“I’m going to the restroom.” Keith dumps the cup down on the ledge, spilling some hot chocolate and leaves without waiting for Hunk’s reply. Hunk feels like he just escaped a bullet. When the coast is clear, Lance and Pidge skids over.

“Did you do damage control?” Lance asks, a bit panicked.

“I told him the truth because I don’t think you can cover your tracks well enough.” Lance is still jumpy and Hunk adds, “I might have implied that you had a fling with him.”

“It was a one night stand! I didn’t even meet Keith then.”

“Damn. You’re going to tell Keith that you slept with him?” Pidge gawks at him in question, looking baffled.

“It’s not like I’m cheating on him,” Lance protests, growing defensive at Pidge’s deriding tone.

“Let’s see Keith acting all fancy with a guy he previously slept with and see your reaction.” Hunk knows this won’t sit right with Lance, especially since he’s the type to overreact and come to extraordinary conclusions. Luckily Keith isn’t like this, he just kicks and destroys stuff to quench his irritation.

“No one says _‘fancy’_ anymore, Hunk,” Pidge interrupts, rolling her eyes.

Hunk is insulted and crosses his arms. “Keith said my hot chocolate wasn’t too creamy by the way.”

“It is!” Pidge objects. “It is _too_ creamy.”

“Back to topic guys,” Lance waves them back with his arms. “Here I thought I was blessed seeing Keith in a ponytail today.” Lance sighs. He really can’t have nice things in the world without paying a hefty price for it.

Hunk and Pidge share a disgusted look. Lance's only allowed to talk on about this because Keith isn’t present to sock him. Keith didn’t like being harped about when he isn’t there to stop it but since Keith isn’t there to begin with, nothing’s stopping Lance from admiring Keith.

“I’ve been blessed for a long time then,” Pidge chides and Lance stops marveling over Keith for a second to gape at Pidge. He’s ready to shake Pidge by the shoulder but Pidge raises a hand to stop Lance from proceeding any closer. She doesn’t do physical contact.

“If you had bother studying in freshmen year then you would have seen him tie his hair up in the study room,” Pidge replies matter-of-factly and watches in delight as Lance’s face drop.

“I have no regrets,” he counters in a quiet voice.

“It’s because you were too busy fooling around and stripping at parties,” Pidge retorts and Lance brings his hands to his chest, pretending to be fatally shot. 

“Pidge, why are you such a grouchy child?” Lance dramatically exclaims and she rolls her eyes.

“You should worry more about getting burnt from Keith’s jealousy.”

“There’s nothing that kisses won’t fix.”

“I bet he’s going to ban you from the bedroom again if you try to kiss him when he’s raging.”

“Don’t jinx it,” Lance cries.

“Lance, why is your boyfriend so angry?” Pidge singsongs, happy for Lance’s misery.

 _“Ha ha Pidge,”_ Lance jeers. Pidge can be so _merciless_ sometimes. He wonders if Keith got his sharp tongue from dorming with Pidge in first year.

Keith comes back and Pidge and Hunk takes their cue to bolt. Lance never handled a jealous Keith before so he wasn’t sure of what to say. Of course, it was easier to go with the truth but he wasn’t sure if that would help. Lance will tell him _eventually_ , just not now when Keith won’t hesitate to punch him. Lance drinks some hot chocolate from the cup and when Keith’s eyes land on him, Keith’s face instantly sours. Lance braces for impact.

“That’s my hot chocolate,” Keith states, eyeing the cup.

“My bad.”

“Where’s your _friend_?” Keith say and made a point of looking around.

“His other friends arrived so he left.” _This was the truth._

“I see,” Keith dismisses and grabs the other cup to fill it with more hot chocolate. Lance watches him carefully, waiting for anything that would indicate his mood.

“Do you want to head back on the ice?”

“My fingers are still cold, I’ll wait a bit.” Keith’s concentrated on his hot chocolate, leaving Lance to guess. Keith catches Lance’s glance and remarks, “Are you here because of Hunk?”

“Yeah. You want to ask about the guy?” Lance isn’t sure if talking about the guy would cause more damage but at least, this gives him a chance to clarify any doubts. He doesn’t even know if Keith knew that Lance had a thing with him.

“No.” Keith answers in a quick manner and for some reason, Lance feels like he’s playing with fire. _He’s going to get burned._

Lance analyzes Keith and wonders if Keith is testing him? Lance isn’t used to this push and pull thing, the psychological warfare is too taxing on his brain. He would rather Keith yell at him so he can alleviate damage. He's good with words but Keith knows this so he's probably avoiding it.

“Really, I don’t mind. You guys knew each other before I met you so it doesn’t matter.” Keith shrugs.

“So I can sleep in the bedroom tonight?”

“Unless you don’t want to?” Keith is genuinely confused now, not realizing that he has the bedroom card to his advantage. Lance isn’t going to expose it though.

“I do!” Lance still feels like he’s walking on ice, so he continues to test the water. “You’re not jealous anymore?”

“I wasn’t jealous,” Keith stammers, mortified at the thought.

Lance grins widely and gives Keith a look. Today really is his day: first he gets Keith in a ponytail, then a flustered Keith gripping onto him and whining for him _‘not to let go,’_ and now a furiously embarrassed Keith denying his jealousy. He should invite Keith skating more often, take advantage of the fact that he’s still a novice  and will still need to grasp onto Lance.

“Liar. You were _so_ jealous. It’s okay to be jealous though, I mean—”

“I wasn’t!” Keith’s cheeks don a rosy glow and Lance finds it so endearing. Now Keith’s aware that he _was_ jealous but he doesn’t want to admit it—and for the right reasons. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re being really cute today,” Lance remarks and watches in fascination as Keith grows a deeper shade of red. “I’m happy.”

He pushes his luck and dives in to plant a kiss on Keith’s peppered cheek. Lance pulls away just enough to admire Keith’s face, now incredibly scarlet, and chuckles.

Keith feels like putty when Lance is _this_ close and is being so damn suave about it. He instantly creates as much distance between Lance and him as he can.

“You spilled hot chocolate on my shirt,” Keith argues but avoids Lance’s eyes.

_Today is not a good day for Keith._

“Would a kiss make it better?” Lance’s using his charm again and sadly, it works on Keith.

 


	6. Anchors to Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith and lance talk about their fears, the ugly monsters that keep the up at night. things get deep and confusion ensues but they both do a good job at keeping the other anchored, with kisses and gentle touches, to keep them from delving too far into the traps of their mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6/7 of klance prompt (hero/villian). apologies for delays, my grandma unexpectedly decided to visit us ten days ago and i've been the designated driver every day ;; i wrote this chapter with the idea that essentially, we're the heroes of our life. so it is our duty to live it to the fullest but sometimes it's hard. sometimes its because of us that life gets quite hard. as much as we're our own heroes, we're also our biggest critique and ultimately, our biggest villian. it's like the umbrella and rain concept. we're both the umbrella and the rain in our lives. if you guys can follow up on this concept so props to you guys. as always, i hope you enjoy this chapter.

 

Lance buries his head under his book and groans loudly whiles Keith tries hard to ignore Lance by sticking his nose further into his own book. _If Keith tries hard enough then maybe he can continue reading._

“I wish this information rides down a concentration gradient and into my brain,” Lance bellows under the book. **

“More like you’re going to lose information through osmosis,” *** Keith smirks, not leaving the chance to tease Lance go wasted. Lance groans even louder in response.

“Oh my gosh, you’re such a dick.” Keith snickers and Lance rolls to his side, bringing the book with him.  

“If you’re going to study then you should at least do it seriously—if anything, you’re going to fall asleep faster.” Keith eyes Lance curling into a ball on the bed beside him, defeated. When Lance wants to, he can be pretty studious and scholarly and won’t take any bait. Though when Lance does’t want to, he becomes incredibly fussy and annoying.

An hour ago, Lance was complaining about being tired but not tired enough to sleep. Keith wasn’t sure if Lance secretly wanted him to do something about it so Keith does what he does best: sit back and observe. Though he didn’t think Lance would be grumbling for an hour so Keith is stuck being awake with Lance while he whinges.

Lance turns over to lie on his back and stares at the ceiling. “Keith, keep me awake.”

“No, go to sleep. You’re opening the bar tomorrow,” Keith replies sternly, his eyes still focus on his book. He knows Lance is pouting in disapproval but doesn’t relent. If he did then Lance would complain about being more tired in the morning and Keith would be on the receiving ends of those complaints.

“No, let’s talk then I’ll go to sleep,” Lance says and sits up beside Keith. Their arms are now touching and Keith pretends not to notice.

“Only one talk, okay?” Keith puts his book down and stares at Lance, nodding his head. If Lance isn’t going to sleep after this then Keith will have to take measures into his own hands and drug him to sleep and it will happen, even if he has to use force.

“Okay, what do you have in mind?” Keith asks and Lance’s eyes are glowing in anticipation for their talk.

“What scares you?” Lance’s voice is suddenly serious and inquisitive and Keith thinks he almost mishears him if not for the sincere looks in Lance’s eyes.

Keith gives Lance a chance to retract his statement. “What?”

“What’s your biggest fear?”

“Do you really want to talk about _this_ at this time of the night?”

 _“Keeeittthhhhhhh.”_ Lance pleads and Keith is so tempted to muffle Lance with a pillow.

Keith takes a deep breath and stares into Lance’s earnest eyes, asking for confirmation. Lance still doesn’t budge so Keith knows this is going to be another spontaneous heart-to-heart talk. Keith was on the fence about heartfelt talks—he likes them because he gets to see another dimension to Lance, to learn more about him but he feels so exposed. He doesn’t like having so much of his emotions out in the open, playing on other people’s ears.

Lance continues giving him the genuine look and Keith has to find a way to resist those eyes or Lance is going to start exploiting them.

_One thing pops into Keith’s mind when it comes to fear and he doesn’t like it._

“It’s dumb,” Keith hesitates. Anything that’s too personal for Keith’s liking is _dumb._ He doesn’t want to talk about it so it’s _dumb_. Anything that makes Keith uncomfortable is _dumb_.

“It’s not dumb,” Lance answers and puts a comforting hand on Keith’s arm. “It’s not.”

Keith gulps, feeling the knots in his mind tightening at the thought of what frightens him. Call it a blessing or a curse but Keith is painfully aware of how emotions work, how emotions can be twisted in a blink of an eye. He knows how thin the line between love and hate is. Keith can only hates someone so much because he used to love them just as much. Of course he never tells Lance this because it’s quite morbid and would plant unnecessary seeds of doubt in Lance’s head.

Since Keith is highly aware of his blessing, he creates this faint line between him and other people. It was faint enough for Keith to still make friends but enough to remind Keith to keep his emotions to himself. He prefers to channel his emotions to fueling his determination so he can witness his fruitful result rather than investing it in people and hoping for the best. _Hoping wasn’t enough reassurance for Keith._

“Change,” Keith muses at the idea, wondering if one word can sum up the wide landscape that fear creates. He isn’t sure if _change_ was the right word to describe the landscape either.

“Change?” Lance is confused and Keith can see why Lance doesn’t get it. It’s a complicated and almost juvenile fear that Keith isn’t so proud of himself but who is really proud of their fear?

“Change,” Keith confirms. Lance waits for Keith to explain but Keith doesn’t want to delve further into the topic so he stays quiet.

Lance sighs, knowing that he’s going to have to work for Keith’s answer.

“What’s wrong with change?”

Keith wanted to tell Lance _everything_ because it really is the answer but he knows Lance isn’t going to accept nor like the answer.

“If I could, I would want things to remain as they are right now. To continue being university students, meeting everyone a few times a week, life carrying on as usual.” If time could stop then Keith would like that, to savor the moment even more but life doesn’t work like that.

“What’s wrong with things changing? We’re all going somewhere else in life and that’s…” Lance pauses, unsure if he should make the future sound so _repulsively_ positive. “That’s something to look forward to.”

Lance nudges Keith for a reply and Keith furrows his eyebrows, stuck in awkward limbo because he doesn’t agree with Lance but he doesn’t disagree either. “I guess it’s something to anticipate.”

 _“I guess,”_ Lance mocks Keith and chortles at Keith’s defensive frown.  

“I’m just worried we won’t be the same after we graduate and go our way ways. Like we won’t be laughing at the same stupid things we laugh at now. Things will be different and we’ll be different people; I don’t like that idea.” Keith admits, playing with his fingers. The thought of Keith’s dear friends not being dear to him in the future upsets him.  

“By then, I’m sure we’ll all be a bit different but that’s not a bad thing,” Lance comforts, watching as Keith struggles with expressing himself. “I’m sure we’ll tell dumb inside jokes about other things.”

“Like mortgages and taxes,” Keith suggests and chuckles at the idea. _They sounded like adults._

Lance scrunches his face at those words. “Ew, I’d rather we argue about who’s going to get hitched.”

“It’s obviously Shiro and Allura.” They acted like a married couple sometimes so the thought of them getting married wasn’t too far-fetched. Both Lance and Keith would be happy for them.

“Better put some money aside then.”

“We have to give more than just _some_ money.”

They both chuckle fondly at the thought. Even though it did sound funny, Keith would still prefer hearing Pidge complain about Hunk’s creamy hot chocolate but ultimately, she’s the one that drinks the most of it.

It grows quiet after their laughter dies down. Keith grows uncomfortable as his biggest fear eats away at him. He could let the fear slide untouched and ask about Lance’s but he would feel like he’s lying, cheating Lance if he didn’t tell him his biggest fear. Especially since Lance is going to be honest about his.

Keith can’t shake the image of seeing genuine love being morphed into sheer hatred, devastation; thankfully he didn’t experienced it directly but indirectly with his friends. The numerous times his friend would hole up in their room for days, only slipping a note with an _‘I want to be alone’_ under their door. The times he would take long, long walks where his friend would talk and talk but to Keith, it seemed more like they wanted to cry but held in their tears because they wanted to be “fine.”

He doesn’t know how he’ll cope if Lance’s feelings cross the line between love and hate. If Lance slowly recognizes that Keith’s habits are nuisances then Keith can’t do anything but stand there helplessly as Lance changes, his mind processing new thoughts while he mentally begs Lance to stay.

Keith is sure that he’ll be worse than his friends. Keith wouldn’t just hole up in his room for days but isolate himself from everyone and everything. He’ll be stuck in his own mind and Keith doesn’t like it when he’s too absorb in his thoughts.

“What I’m most scared of is _people changing_. Their feelings will change and suddenly everything’s different. The people I knew aren’t the same people anymore,” Keith professes. “That could happen to anyone because we’re so spontaneous. I mean, even _you_ can change.” _And Keith is too fragile to handle that._

Keith doesn’t have control over other people and their feelings and that makes Keith feel helpless and small. His well-thought out plans don’t account for people’s spontaneity. So he’d rather put a distance between his and other people’s emotions. He doesn’t get hurt and doesn’t hurt other people—a win-win situation.

He has seen love turn into hate but he has never seen the reverse happening; hate can’t turn into love—if it did happen then it wasn’t hate to begin with, just pettiness. Keith knows that if Lance were to ever hate him, it’s because Lance loves him thus his hate would be so strong that it would be unbearable for Keith.

He can’t bear the thought of Lance hating him to that _extent._

“I’m being realistic here, Keith,” Lance says, his tone taking a more sombre turn. “People can be scary, relationships are even scarier. It’s like investing in an unstable stock market but people still get into relationships all the time. That being said, the risks has to be worth it.”

Keith nods, seeing the point Lance is trying to make.

“I can’t promise that I’ll love you forever but I can tell you that I love you now and tomorrow and the day afterwards.” Lance clears his throat, wishing that Keith would stop staring at him like that. It’s embarrassing to say these things out loud but Lance feels that Keith needs to hear this.

To Lance, love is too heavy to bet on, too grave to attach promises like ‘forever’ to. With stocks, they don’t have any feelings attached so it’s easy to accept a ‘bad investment’ but a failing relationship isn’t something Lance can just brush aside and dive into another one. However, Lance can promise _this much_ even if he can’t promise ‘forever.’

Lance reaches to touch Keith’s face, drawing Keith’s attention to him and not his fear. “I talk big but I’m serious when it comes to us. For us to work though, we both have to put in effort. Communication is key.”

Keith agrees, if he isn’t going to work hard at their relationship then he wouldn’t be revealing so much. He wants their relationship to be transparent and open. Keith places his hand on top of Lance’s and lowers them so Keith can hold both of Lance’s hands comfortably.

“I’m awful at communication and rely too much on you guys to interpret my actions, but I’m…” _grateful for you guys._ Keith chokes up and doesn’t get to tell Lance the last bits but he’s sure that Lance understands.

Keith’s worried of his fear will turn him into a muddling, shaking mess, so he grips onto Lance’s hand to stop the trembling, to hide his anxiety, to anchor him. He does love Lance but again, the looming fear that love will be channel into something else haunts Keith.

Lance thanks the stars that Keith is too concerned to look at Lance or he would have noticed him wincing in his slight discomfort. Keith’s grip is getting deadly and Lance wants to pry his hands out and talk to him more but it might still be early for Lance to be pushing Keith past his comfort zone. So Lance takes one of his hands out of Keith’s grasp and uses it to bring him into an embrace. Lance hopes that Keith will understand his actions just like he understand Keith’s.

“You’re lucky that I can translate your actions into words efficiently,” Lance muses and Keith responds with silence. “But don’t worry, I know what you’re trying to say so don’t push yourself.”

Keith furrows his head into the curve of Lance’s neck. Keith plants small kisses on his neck and smiles, acknowledging that being like this is comfortable. Although, he isn’t sure of what Lance is trying to communicate but he knows that Lance truly cares. Lance pulls Keith closer and they stay cuddling like that for a while.

It’s Lance’s way of comforting Keith because Keith is just as awful at receiving affection as he is at giving it.

“So…” Keith’s the first to break the peace. “What’s your fear?”

Lance chuckles and Keith moves away from Lance to look at his face. “Why are you laughing?” He asks, sounding a lot more sulky than he intended.

“You emotions jump between anger and confusion,” Lance teases, pinching Keith’s nose which Keith does not appreciate at all. “Now you’re going from confusion to anger.” Lance continues and Keith is about to bite one of Lance’s fingers off if Lance didn’t stop his teasing.

“You breath just tickled my neck, that’s why I was laughing,” Lance says and Keith's expression softens into a smile. Lance doesn’t mind kisses but ghostly breaths sends shivers down his spine but he doesn’t tell Keith this.

“Your fear, Lance. You aren’t getting out of it,” Keith cunningly reminds him and Lance’s grin falters from his growing anxiety. He reconsiders why he thought this would be a nice thing to talk about before bed but he figures that Keith is too sleepy to artfully dodge his questions. So Lance went for it but forgets how this could end up being a double-edged sword. There is no regret though.

Lance watches Keith anxiously, wondering if his fear makes sense. It sounds weird to worry over such a thing when he’s so good at talking to people, getting to know and understand them better. Yet, his biggest concern is having everyone turn their back towards him as he tries to desperately reach out to hold onto someone, _just anyone_. Lance feels pathetic and sometimes he would rather knock himself out than feel the pain of being in the dark abyss alone.

“I’m scared of being alone,” Lance confesses. It’s the very thought that keeps him up at night, the thought that prompts him to secretly touch Keith so Lance can feel his warmth, to make sure that he’s real, that he’s here with Lance.

 _“What am I to you?”_ Keith sounds insulted and Lance bursts out laughing. Keith gestures wildly at himself, urging Lance to answer his question.

“I didn’t mean it like _that,”_ Lance explains but he’s unsure of how to explain it. He’s not alone, Keith is here with him just like he was yesterday and the day before that. It wouldn’t make sense that Keith wouldn’t be here tomorrow and the day afterwards but the thought makes Lance uneasy, very uneasy.

“So you’re afraid of being lonely?”

“No, alone.” Lance knows he has a large network of people and he has good friends to rely on so he’s not lonely. Everyone’s a phone call away but it’s the thought of calling someone, wanting them to pick up but they don’t. Then the process repeats itself with four other people and he gets tired of hearing the dial tone and the generic voice telling him to _‘leave a message after the beep.’_   No matter how long he waits, no one will pick up—that’s what scares him.

It makes Lance feels like he’s not enough, that there’s something about him that’s lacking but he can’t figure out what it is. So he searches and searches for that thing that could make him competent, that could make him enough for people. The search carries on for too long and Lance gets exhausted and just accepts that there’s something about him that isn’t right, that maybe there isn’t a place or a person for him after all. Lance accepts that thought because it’s easier than trying to find something that might not exist.

Keith watches as thoughts run through Lance’s mind and grows impatient of waiting for Lance to continue talking.

“Then I repeat: ‘what am I to you?’” Keith questions, sounding a bit irritated. He wasn’t angry at Lance per se but just a little peeved because Keith being here isn’t enough for Lance’s fear to subdue. Despite their relationship, Lance is still afraid of people leaving and ignoring him. This saddens Keith more than his own fear does.

Lance doesn’t know how to respond so he just pulls Keith close to him to tuck him neatly in his arms. Keith doesn’t know what else to do to help Lance so he just leans on Lance’s shoulder to hide his blush and slings a lazy hand around his waist to hold him closer.

“Every time I look at the sky, I get reminded that the world is really big. There’s a lot of space with a lot of people. But what if there’s no one for me? No one is going to stay for me, no matter how hard I try to give them a reason to.” Lance sighs, feeling his cheeks heat up in hot embarrassment. “It makes me lonely.” _And incredibly sad._

Lance’s family is huge. There was never a quiet moment in his house, the living room always had someone there. Yet because his house was always so busy, things were always shared so nothing really belonged to him. The happy moments were shared between the family as a whole and for some reason, Lance wanted his own happiness that he could fall back on. Since nothing was his, he felt alone. Despite having multiple siblings annoying him during the day, he wanted something to be just his, rightfully his.

Lance doesn’t think of himself as possessive though, he didn’t want to own something but it was comforting knowing that something _did_ belong to him. Something was his and that’s enough for him.

“It sounds like you’re scared of being abandoned,” Keith says against Lance’s neck and Lance tries to suppress the small grin. Its either Keith’s feathery breath was really ticklish or Lance just has a sensitive neck—he blames Keith still.

Lance closes his eyes, allowing his thoughts to manifest itself into words for the world to hear. “I can’t be abandoned if they’re not there to begin with.”

 _“Lance.”_ Keith reprimands, despite sounding weirdly gentle with Lance.

“Keith.”

“What am I then?” Keith persists at the topic, still confused about Lance’s fear. “I’m here, I’m staying.”

It feels like fear makes the most sense to the person themselves but when that person is trying to explain it, words don’t add up and everyone is confused. Suddenly their fear isn’t so big and it just sounds ridiculous. Just like Lance couldn’t understand Keith’s fear of change, Keith doesn’t understand Lance’s fear of being alone and abandonment.

Lance is so charming that people are willing to pay for his charm through tips. However, Lance is immune to his charm and is instead disgusted when he sees his own reflection in other people’s shimmering eyes. Lance doesn’t know that the twinkle is because of him though and that’s is what frustrates Keith.

“I know.” Lance snuggles closer to Keith and this time, Keith understands what his action means. Lance wants confirmation that Keith’s going to stay and that he isn’t just saying it but he meant it.

So Keith responds: “It’s true. It would be much easier to live alone but look at me, making my life more difficult.” Keith pauses, flushing and states in a quiet voice, “But I don’t mind.”

“You’re so bad at this,” Lance laughs at Keith’s attempt to comfort him. He really is trying but sometimes the efforts don’t add up to the result—which is something Keith struggles with a lot. However, Lance likes this hard-working, awkward side of Keith. “But I get what you’re saying, thanks.” _I love you._

Keith scowls, not liking the fact that Lance snickered at his effort to cheer him up so he blows air on Lance’s neck, causing him to yelp in surprise.

“Keith stop,” Lance begs through his cries as Keith switch to tickling him. When Keith wanted revenge, he’s an absolute nightmare to deal with yet Lance couldn’t find it in himself to push Keith as far away from him as possible. “Please.”

“Only if you promise to sleep after,” Keith says over Lance’s laughter as he runs his fingers down Lance’s side to tickle him some more. Lance nearly has tears over his eyes and Keith gives himself a pat on his back for a job well done.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some a/n (i can't keep science in my pants, im sorry for these bad jokes. this is how my friends and i talk half the time LOL):
> 
> **concentration gradient = when there's an uneven distribution of molecules and they travel down an area of high concentration to low concentration. in this case, lance is referring to the book as having a greater concentration of knowledge and wants the information to go into his brain where there's a lower concentration.  
> ***osmosis = it's a type of movement like the concentration gradient where molecules (particularly solvents) move from low concentration to high concentration. so keith is joking that lance will lose more info because his brain has a lower concentration of knowledge and that knowledge will go to book where there's more knowledge. 
> 
> i intended to make this a lot more angsty but somehow fluff came into it. my good buddy keeps pushing for more fluff so i think i did her good. i wanna hug klance bc these fears are so valid and can be pretty scary but alas, i think they did a great job at comforting each other :) the last prompt is up next! :( kinda sad but there's the multichaptered fic to look forward to.
> 
> i'll be going on vacation for a week and apparently the place im going to, you have to pay to use wifi...and the hourly rate is rather pricey so no updates until next tuesday guys but i do promise to write whenever i can. all the best <3\. comments are appreciated and see you guys in a week :D


	7. Love in Full Bloom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith and lance gets a small dose of infinity and gets drunk off of it; their actions scream love faster than their mouth, they learn new things for each other and a vague but bright future can be seen for the both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 7/7 of klance week prompt (flower/stars)!! i love both (though stars a tad bit more) so i included both themes toward the end. sorry, i basically disappeared off the face of the earth but i went on vacation until the beginning of september, volunteered at an awesome film festival while going to school so even sleep was a sacred thing that i dare not hope for. more to come from the note at the end of this chapter so for now, enjoy this chapter!
> 
> also, usually i make _italics_ indicate the other person talking on the phone ~~but this time, _italics_~~ , i have figured out how to change the font!! the different font indicates the characters are speaking Korean on the phone, ho ho ho.

 

Keith’s eyes flutter open and he grins, remembering his nice dream. It brought him back to when he was nine and singing in choir. His eyes scan the crowd and he finds Mom who’s gleaming with pride. Then they go out for ice cream, like usual, then head to the park where Keith cracks open a book while Mom does yoga with other middle-age ladies. It’s a nice memory and he misses Mom.

His mom is technically his aunt who raised him since his parents passed away when he was young—truthfully, he doesn’t remember his father but knows that he was an airline pilot. He vaguely remembers his mother having silky, raven black hair and a pale complexion. She loves reading, as evident by the books in aunt’s closet. His aunt sometimes go through them when she misses his mother and Keith goes through them to draw a better picture of her.

Keith’s earliest, most vivid memory of his maternal aunt who he calls ‘Mom’is her reading him bedtime stories. She legally adopted Keith so she is technically his mom. She has no children so she treats him like her own and this unfortunately means that Keith succumbs to her strict discipline. Still, he loves her dearly and knows that when she yanks his ears, it’s for his own good.

He blinks a few more times and lets his eyes roam the room until they land on the alarm clock, signaling that it’s 8:53 am on a Friday which is pretty early considering he doesn’t have classes. His body is programmed to wait for Mom’s calls on Fridays now. She usually calls at 9 am, which is around 8pm in Korea. It’s the perfect time because she’s done washing the dishes and it’s before her weekly 9pm drama premiers.

Mom married after she adopted Keith so her husband is like legally his dad but Keith can’t bring himself to call him that so he just calls him ‘Uncle.’ They’re still close enough to have Uncle checking up on Keith from time to time. Uncle works for a transportation company so he’s constantly on the go to Korea so maybe that’s why Keith couldn’t grow closer to him—he’s barely around for conversation, let alone to bond and make memories.

He makes a decent amount to rent an apartment here and one in Korea for Mom to travel back and forth. Keith knows that Mom’s heart always belonged in Korea but she stayed here for his sake until he finished his first year of university. She heard from her friends that the first year is the hardest for students so she wanted to be there for him. Rest assured, it was difficult for Keith but it didn’t knock him down. After that, she moved to Korea and stayed there for most of the years with the occasional visits here with Uncle.

Last month was one of her special visits. She made him eat dinner at her apartment for more than half the week, to police meals. She wanted to make sure that he was eating well-balanced and nutritious meals. Though, all he remembers is her pulling on his ear for polluting his body and for letting his mane get out of control—which he disagrees with but Mom makes the food so he can’t complain too much.

“Waiting for Mom to call?” Lance calls out, shirtless with a toothbrush in his mouth and white foam around his lips.

Keith doesn’t know when he sat up and grabbed his phone but he is now and he’s staring at it, waiting for her video call.

“Yeah.”

Mom was mad that Keith had moved places without telling her. He went to the airport to pick her up but she decided to unexpectedly surprise him by going to his place—his old flat. After receiving a phone call from her, questioning why he wasn’t home, Keith had to tell the taxi driver to not go to the airport but instead go to his old apartment to pick her up then head to her own apartment to drop off her luggage then finally, go to his current flat. She gave him quite a mouthful when Keith explained what happened and she insisted on inspecting his new place to give her “okay.”

_The taxi fare that day was not cheap._

Mom also got to spontaneously meet Lance who was in his tacky superman shirt and sweats. So Lance wasn’t too happy at the surprise visit but in the grand scheme of things, things well okay; her inspection of the apartment and Lance received an ‘okay,’ as embarrassing as it was, and Mom was ultimately happy. Anything that makes Mom happy is a victory to Keith.

Though now, Mom is getting seemingly more interested in Lance and what he studies, what he wants to do, how many people are in his family, when is his birthday so she can check if it’s compatible with his. It was mortifying asking Lance his birthday because she acted like they were going to get _married_ but it’s her way of caring so Keith gives in, like always.

“She’s punctual,” he gurgles through the foam and if they weren’t talking about his mom, which automatically softens him up, he would be scolding Lance and pushing him to the bathroom to brush his teeth properly.

“It runs in the family,” Keith remarks smugly then remembers the time. “You’re opening the bar again?” Lance was opening the bar a lot recently. He used to close often but whenever Lance has the morning or whole day free, he’s opening.  

“Yeah, it sucks but the tips are just as good and no drunk customers,” Lance says. The customers are sober and they’re usually rushing for a flight so after a light refresher, they tip him with however much currency they have left—which is usually a lot. Though Lance does miss the busyness of the night that the morning did not offer; things went by painfully slow and awfully quiet then. Lance usually gets tired of cleaning the glasses but his manager started giving him more administrative tasks so there’s something new to learn.

Midway through Lance’s thoughts, he catches a bit of foam that falls with his hand. Keith is not amused and gets out of bed to usher Lance into their washroom.

“You’re nitpicky about the weirdest things,” Lance grumbles, glaring at Keith through their washroom mirror.

“Says the person who insists on polishing the dumb shakers every week.”

“Don’t talk about our shakers like that,” Lance retorts, jabbing Keith hard with his bony elbows. Keith glares at him and opens his mouth to insult them some more but he hears his phone ringing, signaling _Mom_ so he dashes back to the room. Keith hears Lance chuckling in the background as he clears his throat and fixes his hair to look presentable.

 _“Keith, my darling, how are you? Did you just wake up? Your hair looks like an awful bird’s nest. Are you skipping breakfast? Will you be on time for classes?”_ **

Keith laughs at Mom’s fast Korean ramble. She never gives him time to think in-between her questions. His Korean is not as fluent as she would like but he knows she’s proud whenever her friends marvel over how much Korean he knows—which is apparently a lot.

“Which one do you want me to answer first ?” He asks and her face scowls.

 _“Don’t get cheeky with me, young man.”_ _So this meant he had to answer everything._

 _“_ Alright, so first question: I’m fine, things are the same which is a good thing. Second, I woke up exactly seven minutes ago,"— Keith gives Mom a look and she rolls her eyes. She has the motto that _people should be up when the sun is up_ which Keith knows is very outdated—  “Third, my hair is going to look like this regardless of whether I comb it or not—” 

_ “Maybe you should cut it shorter so it doesn’t look so thick and shaggy."  _

“The last time I cut it short, you told me to grow it out,” Keith whines.

 _ “Last time was too short. Keep it a bit longer than that but shorter than now,” _ she instructs and Keith doesn’t even know what the difference is. Next time she calls, he’ll just tie it up and tell her he cut it.

“So moving onto the fourth question, I’m going to have breakfast after our call. It’s probably going to be toast and—” 

_ “Don’t say coffee,” _ she reprimands.

“I was going to say milk,” Keith lies. He needed coffee but she’s worried about the caffeine in it and the potential for a caffeine dependency which he thinks he already has but she pulls his ears enough for him to tell her.

 _“Yeah right,”_ she snide knowingly and they both laugh.

“Anyways, fifth question: no, I don’t have classes today so it’s impressive that I’m up this early.” 

_“Dear, do you want a medal for that?”_ she asks sarcastically and Keith sighs. Maybe sass runs in his family as well because insults are second nature to Mom. _ “Anyways Keith, you have a few days off next week, right?” _

Keith nods and stares at her questionably. “Are you planning another visit, Mom?” 

Mom chuckles and waves her hand. _“Oh no, it’s too soon to visit though I would love to.”_ _Keith would like that as well. "_ _Remember Irene’s mom? The one at our old church? She rented out her cottage to some people for the days you have off, probably students from your school, but they cancelled last-minute. So would you and your friends be interested? It’s all ready to be lived in though. It’ll be free, of course.”_

Keith considers it because the cottage is beautiful. It’s by a lake and there’s a nice hiking trail. He always come back feeling cleanse and invincible, ready to do anything. His skin’s been shed from sunbathing so much, his mind recharged and ready to be use. He feels like a new person coming back from the cottage every time.

 _“Is that Lance?”_ She asks, her voice loud with excitement.

Keith whips his head around in surprise and Lance jumps back, caught off-guard. He hisses at Lance to _put on a shirt_ and gestures back to Mom on the screen. Lance narrows his eyes but grabs a shirt to throw on.

“Yes, it’s Lance.” 

_ “See, he’s up early as well.”  _

“It’s because he has work, Mom, or else he’d be sleeping in until noon.” 

Mom gasps in horror and Lance raises an eyebrow in question. Hearing his name follow by a gasp is a red flag to Lance. _“Keith, go clean up and let me talk to Lance.”_

“Why Lance?” 

Lance walks towards Keith, his curiosity growing at his name being repeated multiple times in their conversation. Keith shuffles away from Lance when he sits down and slings an idle arm on Keith’s shoulder, which Mom catches. The idea of Lance and Mom talking is dreadful to him.

_ “I only had dinner a few times with Lance last month so we didn’t talk a lot. Plus he’s living with you so you two are in a pretty serious stage in your relationship so I have to get to know my son-in-law.” _

“MOM!” Keith exclaims in English and Mom burst out laughing. Keith warns in Korean, “Don’t call him your son-in-law when you’re talking. Please.”

Lance looks at Keith weirdly and whispers, “What did she say?”

“She wants to talk to you,” Keith mutters, shoving the phone to Lance’s chest while Mom giggles at Keith’s red ears. For some reason, Keith feels strangely embarrassed like he wants a hole to open up and suck him up because he wanted to be _anywhere_ but here. Not with mom thinking of Lance as her son-in-law and then having to explain to Lance what Mom is thinking and planting weird thoughts in Lance’s brain.

“What did she say?” Lance repeats, grinning now and inches closer to invade Keith’s personal space. He’s amused by Keith’s obviously flustered face and his warm cheeks in contrast to Mom chortling at Keith. Keith gives another warning look to Mom before dashing out of their room to brush his teeth then prepare breakfast.

Luckily, his and Lance’s breakfast routine are simple: popping toast in the toaster and turning on the coffee machine. On days that Lance works in the morning, he prefers milk because caffeine is wasted on the slow mornings at the bar. Sometimes if Keith wanted to be fancy and skipped dinner the night before then he’ll make omelettes with rice inside.

He hears Lance laughing in their room and he grows suspicious at what they’re laughing at. It’s probably him but what about him is making them share such hearty laughter. The door to their room opens and Keith turns around to see Lance holding up his phone.

“See Auntie, your son is making me breakfast,” Lance looks up to Keith. “She thought I was lying when I told her that you actually do it often.” Since Lance has been assigned morning shifts, Keith decided to make things easier for him by preparing breakfast. It wasn’t a hard feat, just an extra toast so Keith barely views it as a hassle. But now, Lance is making it hard for Keith to be nice to him.

_“Is that Keith in an apron? COOKING?”_

Keith stares down at his apron, suddenly self-conscious of it. He doesn’t cook enough to own it but it’s another one of the matching items that Lance insisted on buying because _buying one is separating it from its pair and Lance was raised better than that._

“I wouldn’t say cook but it is an improvement. He went from pouring milk in the cereal bowl to making the toaster and coffee machine to do his dirty work,” Lance mocks and Keith glares at Lance to _cut it out._ “Anyways Auntie, I have to leave for work soon.”

“Okay Lance, I’ll let you go now," Mom tells Lance as he turns Keith’s phone around so the screen is facing him. _ “Keith, I’m going to go as well.” _

“Bye mom. Let Uncle know I said hi.” 

_“I will. I love you dear.”_ She blows him a kiss and Keith tries to suppress the grin. _She can be so embarrassing sometimes._

“I love you too.” 

The screen goes black and Keith looks up to see Lance staring stupidly at him. “What?”

“You are such a momma’s boy.”

“So?” Keith questions, setting the toast on the table. “It’s not like you’re any better. You’re always whining to yours.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t.” Lance still has this mischievous glint in his eyes and Keith can’t figure if Mom told Lance some of his dirty old secrets or he’s still riding off the excitement of talking to her. “Auntie mentioned the cottage trip by the way. I’m down for it.”

“Really?”

“Totally! A free trip to a beautiful getaway. What more can I ask for?” Keith has a list of things to retort in response but Lance shoots him a threatening look. “Don’t answer that, you ass.”

Keith chuckles and raises his hands in defense. “Alright, I’ll let the others know.”

Lance looks a bit surprised and Keith thought that he overstepped some line but his smirk springs back quickly. “They’ll say yes obviously.”

“I know but I have to let them know still. Basic social skills, Lance.”

“You shouldn’t be talking, Keith,” Lance jeers and Keith grins. “By the way, your mom thanked me for domesticating you.”

“She thanked you for what?!” Keith exclaims, almost spilling his coffee. _Domesticating him? What were they talking about?_

“She’s happy that I have enough of an impact to force you into the kitchen,” Lance announces triumphantly. “She said she used to make you help cut the vegetables and meat but eventually, she got so tired of you complaining and groaning that she dismissed you from those tasks forever.”

 _So they did talk crap behind Keith’s back._ Keith looks away, a bit ashamed at what Mom said and coughs. “So what other secrets did you guys exchange?”

Lance’s smirk is too haughty and Keith dreads asking the question. “She said you used to cry every time she washed your hair when you were young.”

Keith’s face drops in his hands in wretched mortification. He doesn’t remember that memory but Mom mentions it so often that it’s drilled into his brain. To be completely honest, it _did_ sound like something he’d do. Even now, showers were taken out of a societal necessity. He didn’t take them as some sacred ritual like Lance did.

“You are getting along too well with her.”

“I said you didn’t know the difference between butter and margarine was when we first moved in. She let out a string of Korean cries.” Lance’s smirk grows and Keith just sinks deeper into his chair.

Even now, Keith _still_ isn’t sure what the difference is. “Okay, I don’t want to hear any more of what my boyfriend and Mom has to say about me.”

“But we were bonding,” Lance defends and Keith shakes his head in disapproval.

“Nope, no more.”

“I’ll let you talk to my mom and you guys can trash me.”

“We don’t need to share our stories to have a long list of crap about you,” Keith says, giving Lance a knowing look and arched brows.

“That hurts,” Lance teases and settles down in his seat, letting the silence wash over them uncharacteristically—so uncharacteristically that Keith has to look at Lance to see if anything is wrong.

“Something wrong?”

“No.”

Keith stares at Lance, giving him another chance to retract his statement. Lance stares back. With Keith looking at him like that, he’s going to crumble and succumb.

“Well, actually yeah,” Lance says with a shrug. Keith tries to not appear curious but he is, especially after the call.

“Shoot.”

“Well,” Lance starts and his throat begins to tighten out of nervousness. “I was talking to your mom and I wanted to know why…” Lance trails off and breaks their staring contest. He’s uneasy about this question because he could get an answer he doesn’t want. If he does get it then he doesn’t know how to handle the gruesome truth.

“Why…?” Keith probes, growing a little edgy at Lance’s lollygagging.

“Why didn’t you tell your mom about us before?” Lance questions in a small voice. Lance’s voice was so small, sounded so uncertain that Keith is positive that he misheard him if not for the anxious look on Lance’s face.   

Keith’s mom had asked Lance a similar question but instead, she had asked Lance if Keith was embarrassed about being raised by her or not having parents hence he didn’t introduce her to Lance sooner. It’s something that’s always on her mind but she never asked him in case he really was embarrassed. If that were the case there’s nothing she could do to help him than to bring his parents back to life which is impossible.

This got Lance curious and a little afraid because what if Keith was self-conscious of _him_? Of their relationship? Keith didn’t mind the people on campus knowing that they’re together but what if he had a different agenda for his family? Lance wanted to know because he’s blabbered about Keith to his own mom enough. If Keith is, dare Lance assumes, ashamed of them then maybe Lance should stop telling his mom stuff to keep their relationship low-profile.

“Oh.” Keith feels his cheeks heating up because this was _not_ the talk he wanted to have at 9 in the morning. Keith feels guilty for making Lance worry about it when he shouldn’t be. So Keith reaches over the table to hold onto Lance’s hand in the form of an apology.

“It’s not that I was…” Keith tries to find another way to rephrase his thoughts so they weren’t so sharp. “It’s not like I didn’t tell Mom because I’m embarrassed of us— _I’m not_. Even though Mom seems accepting and open-minded but you never know…she’s pretty religious and rooted in the Korean customs so she might not like that…I’m with a guy.”

Keith’s really struggling now to find the right words. He wonders if these words are enough to explain the turmoil he’s been in whenever Mom calls and he has craftily avoid talks about relationship so she doesn’t inquire about his further. He felt like he was hiding a dirty secret and he didn’t like beating around the bush and definitely hated thinking that their relationship was remotely dirty.

He doesn’t want to offend Lance but he doesn’t know how to tell him honestly without making it seem like he was ashamed of it. Keith knows Mom loves him but he also knows what the older Korean generations think about any relationship that isn’t strictly man and woman. He’s went to church long enough to know. So he was scared because would Mom’s love for him be enough for her to oversee what the church teaches?

Lance nods at Keith squirming to articulate his thoughts. There’s probably a lot more jargon going on in Keith’s mind so Lance gives him time to sort through them. Keith could swear in poetry if he wanted to but tell Keith to speak from the heart and suddenly he has aphasia. Lance throws a quick look at his watch and he’s probably going to be late for work but he wants to listen to Keith.

“And I don’t want her to disapprove of you when she doesn’t even know you. It’s not fair so I was waiting for her to come visit, introduce you as a friend and hopefully, you don’t do anything _stupid_ —” Keith chuckles and Lance dies a little inside at how cute he sounded—“And she likes you. Then I tell her we’re together.”

This time it’s Lance that’s turning beet red. He was wrong and he’s glad that he is. The rug was completely pulled out from under him but for the right reasons. So Keith isn’t embarrassed of them and he actually had some plan on coming out to his mom. Though, he wish Keith told him this before so he wouldn’t have spent so much time freaking out but that’s another issue for another time.

“Lance?”

Keith watches as Lance buries his head in his arm. He could imagine smoke coming out from his head and smiles at the thought. Keith likes that Lance is so brave and upfront about these things. It makes it easier to solve their problems together and Keith wishes he has that courage to confront problems head-on. He’s too scared of getting hurt to even look straight at the problem.

“I’m relieved,” Lance says, his voice muffled by his arm and he gives Keith’s hand a bone-crushing squeeze. Lance is pretty sure his brain’s fried and short-circuited from the impact but again, it’s for the right reasons and for the right person.

 

***

 

For their three nights, four day trip to the cottage, Lance wants to bring _everything_. While Keith secretly takes out a few items like water masks and stain remover, Lance secretly sneaks in a few items like a tea steeper and a 100g of tea leaves.

Evidently, they arrive late because they’re too busy arguing beforehand. Keith thought bringing a big suitcase for the two of them would be better than taking two small carry-ons; he has regrets when the suitcase looked like it was about to explode and required Lance to sit on top while Keith struggled to zip it shut.

Hunk is shaking his head when they arrive. “You guys are late,” he bellows in mock disappointment. Lance is prancing ahead of Keith who’s dragging their heavy luggage behind because he lost at rock-paper-scissors.

“It was Keith’s fault for hiding the air freshener,” Lance replies and Keith is too tired to roll his eyes or shove Lance for being a snarky asswipe.

“We don’t need air freshener, Lance,” Keith repeats for the untempt time that hour. Hunk nods in agreement, glad to not have to deal with Lance’s bullshit.

“The air up there is fresh enough,” Hunk adds and gives Keith a high five.

“But the cabin might have those musky smell,” Lance complains with wild gestures.

“The musky smell isn’t going to kill you,” Keith argues.

“Though they _do_ have the musky smell,” Pidge acknowledges and Keith elbows her for fueling Lance’s protest. Hunk wraps his arms around them to stop them from arguing.

“Alright guys, we have bigger things to deal with today like Allura driving us to the cottage,” Hunk comments and they all immediately shoot Shiro a look, asking for confirmation, who shrugs in helpless defense.

“If I remember correctly, she just got her license a few days ago,” Pidge asks dubiously, hitching her glasses up.

“I got it a week ago,” Allura corrects proudly and they’re all deadpanned. Keith’s mom said the cottage was ‘close’ but close to her is a 2 hour drive. He doesn’t know if they can survive the journey to enjoy what the beautiful cottage has to offer.  

“Allura will be driving the first hour then I’ll take over and drive for the last hour,” Shiro clarifies, easing their worries.

“I still say that’s risky,” Pidge comments and Allura shoots her a death glare.

“How about you drive then?” Allura taunts and Pidge beams, waiting for someone to offer her the wheel. The first and last time she drove them was half a year ago to go hiking. Keith thought they were going to slide off the road and become one with the water with Lance gripping his hand, _hard_ , and almost stopping the blood flow there.

“Can I really?” Pidge asks, too excited for their liking and Hunk slaps his hand over her mouth to stop any more damage.

“Don’t even think about it.”

 

***

 

After a while of screaming, Lance has fingertip bruises from Keith gripping too hard, Hunk is holding onto a plastic bag, wanting to hurl and Pidge has threaten to jump out of the car three times. Allura is taken off the wheel after half an hour. She drives like she’s drag-racing, as if she has nothing to lose on the road and this scares the living daylight out of everyone. Though she sits shotgun with crossed arms while Shiro drives for 45 minutes then Keith takes over for another 45 minutes.

“I feel like I cheated death,” Lance mutters, stepping foot on nice, solid ground. It’s his turn to haul their suitcase around and he regrets winning rock-paper-scissors when he walks through the big doors of the cottage. He has to drag the heavy thing up the flight of stairs and just from one glance, he knows he shouldn’t scrap the polished, hard-wood floor.

“Ditto,” Hunk agrees, a little wobbly on his feet as he grabs the hood of the car to steady himself. He stands beside Lance to stare in awed at their home for the next four days. It almost felt wrong to be living in this majestic space for free. “Keith, you sure we can stay here for free?”

“Yup,” Keith answers and walks in, unfazed by the splendour in front of him. He acts as if the shiny floor is nothing and the living room, which is half the size of their apartment with the classic fireplace, is the norm for him. Lance wonders if Keith, is maybe, made of old money?

Pidge scurries in, eyes searching for the nearest outlet because her laptop is dying, stops mid-way, and lets out a low _‘wow.’_

“This is gorgeous,” Allura says in total awed and Shiro is silenced by the sight in front of him. This wasn’t the stereotypical cottage but a mini villa.

Keith, oblivious to their amazement, ushers them to the staircase. “C’mon guys, we have to claim rooms.” Lance watches Keith disappear up the stairs, dumbfounded by how their rooming arrangement is his biggest concern.

 

***

 

Lance is on lunch duty since he didn’t have to drive. Pidge is supposed to be helping but he hasn’t heard from her since she entered her room—probably fiddling with her codes again. Lunch isn’t too difficult, a few sandwiches are an easy and quick fix. So he’s busy slicing the vegetables and throwing some fruits in the salad bowl.

He hears scuffling behind him and he calls out with a knowing grin, “What is it, Keith?”

Keith has been doing that a lot lately—shuffling around the kitchen when Lance is preparing dinner. Keith’s been wanting to improve his cooking but Lance isn’t sure why he wants to start now. Lance doesn’t mind Keith wanting to learn but he just stands there and observes Lance, which is a bit creepy in his opinion.

“I’m just watching, don’t mind me,” Keith remarks, standing beside Lance while he cuts the avocados. He sees bread, some lettuce, tomato and a jar of mayonnaise spreads out. “What are you making?”

“Avocado sandwiches for lunch,” Lance answers. Keith nods in understanding and makes mental notes of what Lance is doing.

Mom was horrified when she found out how much Keith depended on Lance to keep him from eating noodles every other day. She claimed that it’s appalling that her own son was so incompetent. Keith could be a decent cook if he wanted to but he just never saw the need; this resulted in Keith being unnecessarily dependent on Lance for cooking and some of the chores—heck he’s the reason why Keith has an extra few minutes of sleep in the morning because Lance forces them to clear the dishes in the sink and choose their clothes the night before.

So Keith decides to take some time out of his day to better his cooking. However, he doesn’t still feel confident enough to prepare a meal that he’s proud of yet. Keith learns from watching so watching Lance is what he does.

“Do you want to help out?” Lance asks and Keith shakes his head vehemently. “I’d rather you do something or talk rather than stare.”

“Oh.” Keith is surprised that he’s been putting Lance in an awkward spot. “We can talk.”

Lance laughs. _Of course Keith would choose the option that doesn’t involve cooking._ “Are you perhaps the son of some rich Korean heiress?”

After talking with Keith’s mom, he realized that he only knows university and at-home Keith. What Keith likes to eat on campus, what he likes on his pizza, how he’s not a morning person, how reckless and incredibly dumb he is in the kitchen. He doesn’t know momma’s boy Keith or high school Keith.

It’s incredible for Lance’s mind to wrap around the thought that even though him and Keith have been dating for almost a year, there’s _still_ a lot he doesn’t know. It’s almost like there are still secrets to learn, stories to hear, stars to yet discover. And this thought pertains to one person; the same deal goes for his friends too. There’s still so much more to learn about each other as they go through life together. This thought excites Lance, making him unable to stand still, unstable sit straight until he learns more about his friends.

So he’s going to put in effort to ask more questions, to hear more stories and learn more about Keith.

“So what brought this on?” Keith chuckles. “I’d rather help you cook than answer your weird questions.”

“They’re not weird,” Lance rejoinders. “After talking with your mom, I notice that there’s still a lot I don’t know about you so I’m taking this opportunity now to ask questions. By the way, you can help wash the lettuce.”

Keith picks up the batch of lettuce and starts breaking them off to wash them under the running sink. He narrows his eyes at the lettuce, his mind in a heated debated.

“What?” Lance asks..

“You can’t wash the lettuce with soap first, right?” Keith asks then realizes how dumb his question sounds out loud. Lance’s reaction, a frown, tells him that the answer is no.

“Why soap?” Lance exclaims, sounding very dumbfounded and Keith shrinks himself in embarrassment.

“The leaf looks dirty.” Keith squints his eyes at the minute speck of dirt at the ends. The other leafs were probably just as dirty and he didn’t want the dirt inside his body.

“Water is fine,” Lance laughs and Keith nods timidly.

Based on Keith’s senseless question just now, he definitely isn’t used to being in the kitchen nor should Lance rely on him to cook up anything too impressive.

“So are you the son of a rich heiress?” Lance asks, bumping hip with Keith’s to get his attention. Keith hisses and narrows his eyes, almost tearing the lettuce.

“Stop, I’m trying to wash the lettuce,” Keith urges while meticulously scrubbing the ends of the lettuce to remove the dirt. “Though I wish Mom was a rich heiress. Money is always nice. Unfortunately, she just does translational work for an editing company.”

“Keith, you don’t have to work that hard or the leaf will break.”

Keith stops, caught in the act, and moves onto the next piece of lettuce. Lance glances at Keith. _He was taking this way too seriously._ With the process Keith is making, it’s going to be a while longer until the lettuce is done being washed.

“Then how do you explain this place? It’s huge!” Lance raises his voices in disbelief.

“It’s not mine, it’s Mom’s friend. Her friend got it from her grandmother so they bought it for cheap. I just come here every summer because Mom is close with her,” Keith explains, eyeing Lance. Keith leaves out the reason being that both Moms wanted to match-make their children.  

He doesn’t want to know what wild stories Lance has made up about Keith’s background but he hopes what he said is enough to cross off some tragic backstories from his imaginative list.

“That sounds viable.” Lance strokes his chin, purposely sounding contemplative to piss Keith off.

“Oh my gosh, It’s the truth!” Keith hollers at Lance, laughing at how ridiculous this is getting. Keith is too self-conscious, too wary to have the nice, refined look rich people carry. He doesn’t have enough money to not give a crap about other people’s thoughts.

Keith curses, accidentally breaking one of the lettuce pieces in half. “Lance, look what you made me do!” He accused, showing Lance the broken piece. Lance was talking to him, distracting him and breaking his concentration which caused him to rip the lettuce piece.

Lance rolls his eyes in loss. “I see why your mom banished you from the kitchen now.”

 

***

 

One moment Lance is lying on his stomach on the sun chair, enjoying his nice tan then the next moment, he is aggressively hoist off the chair and thrown into the water with a big splash. Lance drinks a good amount of lake water before he comes up, coughing and gasping for oxygen.

He opens his eyes for a second to see a big, dark ball getting closer to him, yelling “cannonball!” and he’s drowning from another wave of water. Lance is still coughing when Hunk comes up to the surface. Lance sees Keith, Allura, and Pidge doubled over with laughter. Shiro is polite enough to fight the grin off his face.

“You motherfuckers are dead,” Lance growls, swimming to ledge of the rocks.

“You can use my towel,” Shiro calls out and Lance glowers, remembering that his towel is in the water now. There’s more laughter and Lance sulks while tilting his head to the side and smacking it to get the water out of his ear. A shiver runs down his spine and he pulls the towel closer. The water is too cold for his liking.

“So whose bright idea was it?” Lance grumbles, patting himself down with the towel.

“It was Allura’s,” Hunk confesses, his hands thrown up when Lance’s glare lands on him.

“I suggested it, you didn’t have to follow along,” Allura says with a laugh. “Plus Lance, it’s a waste if you don’t get in the water. It’s revitalizing.” Allura splashes water on Lance and he yelps. She laughs some more and Lance thinks of a thousand different ways to get his friends back for this fiasco.

“You guys are awful.” On cue, Lance’s phone vibrates and he opens their group chat to see a picture of him a few seconds before hitting the water, of course courtesy of Pidge. He sends her a frown while she snickers. In the photo, he looks like he was about to pee his pants while being scared to death. Lance sighs and mutters, “I need new friends.”

                                                                                                             

***

 

“Princess, it’s time for you to get up.”

Lance groans, hitching his eye-mask up slightly to see Keith standing at the door. Cottage life suited Lance perfectly. He’s been here for seven hours and all he’s done is unpack, eat, go for a swim, nap and now he’s eating again. It’s a lazy, relaxing day and Lance can’t wait to sleep some more after dinner.

“Why can’t I have breakfast in bed like one then?”

“Lance, we’re going to have dinner soon—we’re just waiting for you so hurry up,” Keith says, his patience running thin; though he didn’t have a lot to begin with.

“I’m going to have to request for a new attendant, a more polite one.”

“Don’t make me force you out of bed,” Keith threatens with a deadpanned face.

“Make me then because nothing is tearing me from this bed. _Nothing_.” Lance makes a show of curling himself in his blanket just to annoy Keith.

“HUNK!”

In record’s time, Lance jumps out of bed and gets ready for their picnic dinner. It was Keith’s idea for a picnic dinner because they could stay out to stargaze later on. Since they’re kilometers away from the city, the sky is clear and the stars are breath-taking. Keith remarks that it’s one of the reasons why he comes back every summer. When Keith says something like that then it’s something to take seriously so no one objected to his proposed plan of three nights straight of stargazing.

 

***

 

Dinner is chicken salad wraps, berry tarts and freshly squeezed orange juice, courtesy of Hunk. Keith loves it when Hunk takes charge of the kitchen because his food not only tastes great but it looks the part. He adds the extra touches like using the dressing to draw little swirls or floral carrot cut-outs. Keith isn’t the one to fret about the little details, he isn’t allowed to have a say, but he respects Hunk for that.

It’s a waste that Hunk’s in physical chemistry because he would rock culinary school.

Soon it gets dark and Lance is missing because he wandered off after finishing dinner. Keith glances around, trying to pick out his figure in the distance. If Lance goes too far then he might lose signal and if he got lost then it would be a disaster—Lance wouldn’t stay lost forever but it was just the complaints that Keith dreads.

“I’m going to look for Lance,” Keith says, growing uneasy because Lance _still_ isn’t back yet and he isn’t picking up his phone.

“Alright, don’t get back too late now,” Shiro teases, follow by snickering from Hunk and Pidge. Keith glares at them and stalks off. He passes trees and bushes and almost misses Lance if he wasn’t looking down—Keith doesn’t know why he’s looking down but he is and he found Lance so he can justify that.

“Lance, what are you doing?” Keith questions, looking at Lance crouched down in front of a flowerbed. Lance spins around and presents a flower crown made of the blue flowers.

“Here,” he hands it to Keith and Keith carefully puts it on his top of his head. There’s a part of him that’s worried about the possibility of there being bugs and those bugs crawling on the flowers which are on top of his head but he shoves that thought to the back of his mind.

Keith notices that Lance has a matching one on his head and smiles. Keith reaches his hand out and Lance grabs it to pull himself up. They make their way back to the group hand-in-hand.

“You wandered off to make a flower crown?” Keith asks and Lance chuckles.

“No, I went for a walk and saw the pretty blues. It’s amazing here, like nature is in full bloom,” Lance replies. “Do you like it?” He gestures at the flower crown.

“Yeah, I do.” Keith goes to unconsciously touch the petals with his free hand. He didn’t know Lance knew how to make flower crowns but it’s not a skill that he would go around bragging about. “Did you learn from your younger sister?”

“Yeah, she loves it when I make flower crowns for her,” Lance remarks, with this earnest look on his face and this is the face he makes when he’s visiting fond, old memories. “You know, I thought this trip would be just the two of us.”

“Oh,I didn’t know, my bad...” Keith had assume that it’d be the whole gang because the cottage is too big for two people to live in. It just felt so normal to hang in a group that the thought of it being the two of them never cross his mind.

Lance laughs heartily, satisfied with himself. “It’s fine. I love this too. Hanging with the crew is always fun and you’re here too so I’m just as excited.”

Then it grows quiet except for the gentle sound of the rustling leaves, the cricks of the cricket and the slosh of their feet against the dirt path. It’s calm, quiet and soothing. It’s the beauty of the cottage. There’s a certain charm to it that Keith can’t explain in words. There’s something about getting away from the busy city, the ticking of time to just sit down and enjoy a sandwich while he watches the water fall. It’s like another world to Keith and he’s glad to share this world with his friends and Lance.

Lance stops walking and Keith gives him a pondering look but stops when he sees Lance gazing up at the sky in pure wonder. Keith follows his gaze and his eyes meet the stars in the sky. It’s like someone threw a blanket over the sky, poked holes into it and shone a flashlight through it. That’s the only reason to explain the vast number of stars.

There’s so many stars that Keith feels small, as if he’s just another point in the sky. It’s as if all of his concerns are small too, making Keith feel hopeful like anything is possible under this sky, that no problem is too big for it to handle.

“This is amazing,” Lance mutters and Keith hums in response. Lance feels Keith’s hand tighten around his but he has trouble drawing his eyes away from the sky. There’s just so many stars that Lance can spend the whole night counting and he wouldn’t catch them all. He’s standing under the endless sky with the twinkling stars and the person he loves. This feeling is incredible and Lance wants to stay indulge in it.

Lance finally finds the power to pull away from the stars to admire Keith’s animated expression. Lance finds it endearing that Keith comes here frequently but still looks excited like a child on Christmas day.

“It’s like magic,” Keith mutters.

It’s eerie and crazy but when Lance looks up at the sky, he doesn’t see the stars but he sees the happiness that blossomed between them—their matching mugs and aprons, them making the bed together in the morning, the sheet of paper that has “house rules” sloppily written on top. The memories are bright and shining and Lance gets lost in them.

Keith sneaks a glance at Lance and sees the stars sparkling in his eyes. He’s glad that Lance enjoys stargazing as much as he does. Keith is happy to share this magic with him.

He feels the weight of the flower crown and smiles. It’s a flower crown but suddenly, he remembers all of their shared moments—the kisses at the skating rink, the expensive shakers and the conversations in the early mornings. It’s more than just a flower crown, it’s a reminder of everything that’s precious between him and Lance. Precious things are supposed to be heavy and Keith is willing to bear the weight.

They can go on the whole night counting the memories they’ve made together, the smiles they’ve shared; there are so many that they can rival the stars in the sky. Lance and Keith stand there, mesmerized by the sight before them, the person beside them and the growing depths of their relationship. With every star in the sky and every memory relived, they fall a little more in love with each other. Under the infinite sky, these stars and memories weave the promises of their bright future. And together, in that moment, they feel infinite.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALAS!!! guys this is my first finished fandom (and second fanfic) week!! i wanna give myself, steph (my buddy and beta and bane of my existence), and you guys are sticking it out with me, my sporadic updates and the confusion that might have accompanied you. im still brain dead from writing my essay but this means a lot for me ;u; so thank you for reading until the end. 
> 
> i felt this was a good way to end klance week - on a good note (ofc). they're still learning new things about each other (just like in the initial chapters) but they're not just _learning_ but they're acting on their newfound knowledge with lance confronting keith about their relationship, keith making lance breakfast so lance can catch some zzz in the morning. it's like their love has matured from the fresh bud of chapters 1 to this beautiful blooming flower that is chapter 7. 
> 
> thank you again for reading.
> 
> p.s. i'm writing the continuation of the angst that's chapter 4 into this new work, ["Anchors to Reality"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8384215/chapters/19207033) So if you want to see more of my work then head over there. Much love and well wishes <3


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